Wish Upon a Star
by Lorris the Terror
Summary: Twin Terrors Lorris and Nilla have come to Ninjago and have met with a friend they named Mizu no Akira (you might know that name). As always, their adventures are wild, especially now with the Ninja. One: there is a new menace called the Black Pearls. Two: Lloyd has a crush on Akira. Three: Akira's brother is Morro. Four: The Twins know Spinjitzu. WARNING: Extraordinarily random.
1. When the Twins Drop In

Every time two Zootopian ocelot twins known as Lorris and Nilla drop in on someone's life, they are always greeted with questions. When they dropped in on the ninja, it was no different. Basically, the ninja were fighting a mob of criminals P.I.X.A.L.'s databanks dubbed as "Black Pearls," villains restored through a black pearl found only in the hearts of dragons of darkness.

"This is going nowhere! If we don't get rid of them before the new moon comes up tonight we're gonna be hooped like garbage!" Jay wailed. Cole rolled his eyes. "Since when is garbage so doomed?"

"Since NOW! People crush trash into tiny pieces and incinerate it! WAAA!" As he said this, the gigantic Black Pearl figure of Master Chen started to step on him. Another thing about the Black Pearls: most don't like to speak and some are mute.

The huge mechanical foot of Master Chen's chair was almost to him when a burst of blue-and-magenta light knocked it back. It was a Spinjitzu tornado with a lightsaber (they thought it was a sword made of disco lights) beating the Black Pearls away, and stopping them from getting to the ninja. Another tornado with blue and bright pink soon joined it, yodeling and waving their saber around like crazy. Also, they had a bazooka loaded with extra-rotten tomatoes.

"WHOA! That is so cool!" Jay hyperventilated. "Who else knows Spinjitzu other than us? WHO ARE YOU?!"

The tornado without any maniacal screaming or the bazooka stopped. She was an ocelot. Looked about twelve in human years. Wearing Jedi robes. "Sorry, but we had to get here quickly or else these mangy Black Pearls woulda destroyed you. I'm Nilla the Terror, and that's my twin, Lorris the Terror. We're known as the Twin Terrors."

Her twin dropped down from fighting. "Hi, bye, gotta go and call in our old friend who calls herself Katana, actually not!" She screamed, loud and clear. A moment later, someone who looked like (to us) a LEGO version of Katana from DC Superhero Girls flipped off a building and sliced the Black Pearls to pieces with her razor-bladed katana. Mad skills! Even better than the ninja, and fashionable. She definitely made Kai jealous.

"Oh my gosh, that is AWESOME!" Jay screeched in delight. "How'd you even do that, and who are you?"

"You can just call me Akira. The Twin Terrors suggested it to me when they met me, and they also gave me a name because my parents never gave me one, oddly enough. The name they found for me on the Internet was Mizu No Akira," the girl quipped very curtly. She swung her sword around and sliced a banner into a dragon shape. "And also they call me the Fashion Designer."

"Well, it seriously fits you, Akira," Lorris remarked. "You should design outfits for the ninja, you know." Akira snorted disdainfully. "Whatevs. Already on it."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. What seriously happened here? First we're fighting off deadly enemies, and the next moment, we're being killed by twins and a super accurate martial artist with a sense of fashion. I'm confused," Cole said. Kai nodded in agreement. "Yeah, and not to mention that they're lunatics who know Spinjitzu and have weird glowing swords and–AAH!"

"Don't talk about our lightsabers that way," Lorris growled, holding him at sword point. "And I'm the lunatic here. Nillie's just the one who freaks out over anything cute and is a lot quieter than me." She got off. "Good. So now, I think we already know you all, as you're so famous. And you already were introduced to us by Nilla here, so we pretty much have a head start on meeting each other. HEY! GIVE ME MY SABER!"

Behind her was a Black Pearl (Yang), holding the lightsaber away. She quickly leapt at it and a small battle ensued. Dodge. Parry. Bananas. Splat. Got the saber. Slice. The Black Pearl was now disintegrated. "Done! And how's life in Sensei Yang's Temple of Airjitzu? He's still there, you know."

"See? I TOLD you that the ghost of Yang still lived in the temple, but no one would believe me!" Jay shouted. And so a small battle ensued amongst the ninja as they led the Twin Terrors and Mizu no Akira to the temple.

"This is the most pointless fight ever, let's just fly up," Nilla said. She formed an Elemental dragon, her twin following in pursuit and Mizu no Akira rising quickly with Airjitzu. Let's just call her Akira for now.

Immediately Lorris went to check on the portrait of Sensei Yang on the wall while Nilla spiced the place up with exotic plants.

"What happened here?!" Kai demanded as he came in with the rest of the team. Hibiscus flowers adorned the doorposts, ivy crept along the outside of the window, holly framed the portrait of Yang, and streamer plants lived along the walls.

"Oh, that's what Nilla calls artwork," Akira calmly told them with a light scoff. "Her Elemental power is over the entire flora, while Lorris's elemental power is over the fauna, or animals. I don't have any. (Lorris: (to herself) LIAR!) And why were you all fighting about Yang? He's right there behind you and heard everything."

Startled, the team looked behind them to find… nothing. Not even a creepy voice. They turned back, and Akira was gone. In her place was a punching glove that hit all of the boys. Little did they know, she was just hanging above them on the doorframe.

"Ooh, she fooled you! The ninja were bested by a girl!" Nilla giggled. Of course, Kai got angry. "That was not funny! Where are you, you little—"

"Calm yourself, Kai," Zane intervened as he placed a firm hand on his friend's shoulder. "It's no use getting angry."

"True." Akira hopped from the ceiling. "And I don't actually care about anything that goes on here. Goodbye, now." She hopped outside to the rooftop, surreptitiously giving Lloyd dirty glances. No one noticed… except for the love expert, Lorris. You heard me right. She's a love expert, and a crazy good one at that.

Quickly ignoring it FOR NOW, the ocelot gave the news of why they came. "Nilla and I came here and found Akira because the Black Pearls have broken the shield that blocks them from entering Ninjago. You were one of the only worlds left who didn't have them until now. They were banned when the First Spinjitzu Master came and created this place, and now they're back. The main target they have is the newly rebuilt city of Ouroborous, because the Serpentine know the best ways of defeating them. And so do the Xan star spirits."

"Xan star spirits?" the team collectively asked. Zane interrupted to answer. "P.I.X.A.L. says they're the beings that are born from the stars created by a people in the realm of Xanadu, which watches over all the sixteen realms. They granted the First Spinjitzu Master the golden weapons and the power to create Ninjago to grant a safe passage for some of the people of the other worlds because their perpetual enemy, the Abyss, was set out to destroy everything."

"Well said, Zane," Lorris applauded him, "but there's more to that. The real enemies from the Abyss are the nightmares. They control everything, and their leader is the Deathmare known as Soul Taker. COME, NOW! I'm probably gonna hit someone, and listen carefully, because if you don't the nightmares are gonna take your hearts out, replace them with the fire of death, turn you into Black Pearls, and you'll be under their command forever until the end of time, and never able to be reversed." Her eyes narrowed as she somehow started looming over them creepily.

"Okay, I was kidding about the last part, charade's done. Let's go!" Lorris skipped merrily out of the room with Nilla. Everyone else looked at each other awkwardly. What a way to start a meeting.


	2. The Nightmare Menace

Lorris hauled the ninja to the center of the dojo and pulled down a screen. "This is a diagram of what the Black Pearls—"

"Hey! When did you get a screen in here?" Jay exclaimed. Lorris hissed. "Quiet down, chitty chat. I got this in here a long time ago when Yang was still alive. Because we existed about eleven billion years ago, I estimate? Anyway, here at the top of the pyramid is the Deathmare who has every power of the Abyss in her. Soul Taker. The next in line are three-eyed bloodmares, who're responsible for the hatred in this world, mostly the wars and murders. Then there are the mages, called sagemares. They hold blame for creating the dark arts, the Overlord, and anything magic in this world that has evil in it. Like Nadakhan's djinn power that Jay told you all about."

"Yeesh, don't remind me," Jay whispered.

Lorris continued. "Next are stormcolts, which are the stallions and not the mares. Every natural disaster is them in disguise. Then are plaguemares, or the steeds that make everyone sick. Remember that time with the epidemic you had?" Everyone nodded. They'd almost lost Kai. "That plaguemare was named Malaria. Now, the next are bone breakers. Not kidding. They've caused ribs to be shattered, they're stallions made of skeletons, and when a rib is broken, it's a skellion at work.

"Okay, remember when Morro was here? He was a ghost, and ghosts are given the power to possess people by ghostmares, hence the name. They can control multitudes at once, though. And now are these nightmares. Puffy, with a skeleton you can see. And the skeleton is made of knobs and sticks. They destroy your dreams like all the nightmare evolutions can do. And they cause fear, terror, anger, tragedy, etcetera whatevs. The nightmares are at the top of the hierarchy. After are the devil-dragons and demons. They're similar to the nightmares, but a little weaker. After is just the whole Abyssal army made of Black Pearls, then slaves, then prisoners, then sacrifices. Yes, they sacrifice the stars to Soul Taker because she eats their hearts."

Meanwhile, everyone was looking on in horror. Once Lorris finished speaking, Kai quickly stammered out, "So the nightmares are the ones which control the Black Pearls and make them attack Ninjago?"

"Not just Ninjago, but all the realms too," Nilla answered. "Right now my super-sniffer nose can smell crime from the Black Pearls at the Ninjago City bank. There's a lot of rioting. And ghostmares with the Black Pearls."

Everyone raced out and rushed to Ninjago City. Half the people were rioting, half were running around in terror. The ninja quickly leapt down and started fighting. Jump up, kick back, whip around, and spin.

"Take that! And that! And THAT!" Jay shouted as he kicked the Black Pearl of Samukai down. He was quickly overwhelmed by a horde of rioters.

"Guys! They're too strong! We can't fight them!" Cole called to the team. Nya blasted the ghostmares with water. "And my water powers don't even affect them like they do to other ghosts!" she yelled.

"Oh, yeah, I forgot to tell you how to fight a ghostmare," Nilla groaned, then she screamed, "LOOK OUT!"

Cole turned around to find himself staring into white eyes resting against pitch black ghostliness. They called, _Come… join us… you shall be greatly powered… everyone will bow to you… come to the Abyss and live forever… gain power…_

He succumbed to the possession. The ghostmare entered his mind. _Now, go attack your friends._

"Cole! What are you doing!" Kai roared as Cole snapped rocks at him. Zane did a quick scan. "My resources say that he has been possessed by something that he cannot break out of and cannot fight. This must be a ghostmare's work!"

If that was true, it definitely wasn't pretty. Cole's eyes were red. His voice was like a hissing snake. "I shall kill you all!"

"Okay, that's it, I'm joining the fray," Lorris growled. "Dearest pacifist sister, gimme the bubblegum!" The bubblegum formed a shield around Lorris that protected her from the ghostmares as she shot into battle. ROWWW! Slice, tear, spit, and scream at the Black Pearls… the ninja were allowed a moment of rest as the ocelot blew on a whistle. The Ultra Dragon flew by, combining all its powers into one huge ball. It fired the ball at Lorris, who caught it and covered it with bubblegum, thrusting it into the air. The sphere exploded and cured Cole.

"Ugh.. what happened?" he stammered, wincing and rubbing his head.

Zane did another scan. "It appears that the foreign darkness which controls your mind has left, Cole. You were fighting us until the Elemental Dragon came back, and Lorris caused the ghostmares and Black Pearls to leave."

"What… oh yeah, now I remember. Sorry about attacking you guys."

"Hey, you were under possession. You couldn't fight it. No one blames you," Lloyd comforted him. Back on the Bounty (Misako was controlling it), Lorris was trying not to throw up and had a paw clapped over her jaws. Why? Nobody knows.

Back at the Temple of Airjitzu, everyone entered to find Akira training. The stats here are: Reflexes? Fast. Defense mode? Agile, quick. Attack mode? Extremely fast, agile, clear-cut. Moves? Envy to the ninja. Sword reflexes? Something to be jealous of. But then again, Lorris and Nilla coach against jealousy. It's bad for the soul.

She finished by cutting a few apples, pears, watermelons, pineapples, and berries into a very fine tower of fruit slices on a plate. Something to be very envious of, because she cut them all in a single mid-jump.

"Whoa. Why am I so jealous right now?" Jay squealed to himself. Kai nodded in a daze. "I didn't even see some of those moves. That was way too fast!"

"I thought that ninja were supposed to be really fast, even faster than me," Akira sniffed while swiping at a mannequin with a swift spin kick, "Apparently only the Twin Terrors' siblings are faster than me."

She whipped out of the room using the wind. Well, actually letting the wind carry her to the rooftop. Lloyd had already been curious about her, but now that REALLY piqued his interest. "Did she just ride on the wind?"

"Oh, yeah, I forgot to tell you that she's Morro's sister," Nilla shrugged. "And if you're worrying, she's not evil; she's just not social. Even Morro was nicer than her before he was disowned. Then he was missing for 47 years and her parents found his body and showed him his baby sister—wonder how that happened—and then they cast her out when she was nine years old once she knew, but then she was frozen in time, and then she came back, and my sister Vixen found her and took her in like a mother wolf, though she's a fox. And since Vixen is a martial arts expert, Akira grew up to be deadly."

The twins noticed that Lloyd was looking up with an even more dazed look than Kai. Also… some weird expression that looked like he was worried. He also smelled very… in Bambi terms… _twitterpated._ If Bambi was twitterpated when he saw Faline, then you'd know what I'd mean. Twitterpation was one of Cupid's favorite terms.

"Uh, okay. Now someone here is looking super twitterpated," Lorris meowed awkwardly. "Never mind, I'll be leaving now."

She climbed to the roof to see Akira pacing and slicing up a blank scroll of paper to pieces. "Akira, whaddaya think you're doing?" she asked. Akira warbled, "Be quiet. It's about who you call Weird Al's pet frog. I'm just really mad right now."

"Aw, really, no you're not. I can practically hear your heartbeat racing out of control. And you only act really cold and never talk to the people who you like. Don't think I didn't notice that glare you gave Agent Cape Verde."

Akira sighed. "Why do you call him Cape Verde? And okay, you're right. I'm just nervous, got it? And now since everyone knows I'm related to Morro…" she trailed off. Lorris rolled her eyes. "Seriously. I have got to tell Nilla about this. She already explained to them about how you're not evil and stuff. Yeah, they might be wary, but if you haven't seen that inconspicuous twitterpation, then you'd probably never survive."

"What's twitterpation?"

Le gasp! "I thought I explained it already! You know what, never mind, it's something that they talk about with birds. Let's go and see how you interact at the dinner table. It's already almost time for supper."

Dinner happened to be Nilla cooking, as she had made an agreement that the twins and Akira be part of the team. The recipe used was one of Prancer's best dishes, a steak fajita. Everyone loved it. Especially the perpetually hungry Cole. "Mmm, tithe ith dewithiouth! I nee moa!"

"Okay, calm down, Cole, we're all getting it," Jay chuckled as he watched his friend wolf down the meal. Throughout the dinner, everyone was talking excitedly. But not once did Akira say a thing. The only thing she did say seemed defensive: "I don't get it." Lorris had been asking why she was so nasty around Agent Cape Verde.

Now it was time for night watch, though it was more like nightmare watch. First shift, Lorris blew on her rainbow whistle and had a guard of nocturnal animals around the fort, like the dragons of night. Notice that I didn't day dragons of darkness, but dragons of night, which breathe fire and some can read minds, tell the future, or both. Also they're called NightWings.

Of course, to keep the animals in check, they needed someone to stay outside to keep command. Nilla: "Sorry, but I don't like those animals as much except for the baby owls and cute dragonets. Those kinds out there are the adult monsters."

Lorris: "I'll be out there, but we need two more people. Akira already volunteered. WHO WILL BE THE NEXT PERSON?!"

"I'm not going out there to be surrounded by a bunch of bats and owls!" Jay shrieked. "That's disgusting! And have you seen the slugs all over the place?" (Lorris: You have no appreciation for those animals.)

"Well, I'm not going anywhere with unfamiliar dragons we don't even know! I still don't trust that kind!" Cole shouted. (Lorris: HOW DARE YOU!)

"I might burn one of them, and then they'll all be flying at me like harpoons to kill me, and I agree with Jay about slimy snails and slugs!" Kai shot out. (Lorris: Shut up before you are terminated by termites and fire ants.)

"Nindroids are targets for porcupines because they can hack into my system! And there are about 60 porcupines out there!" Zane roared as he turned up the volume on his speakers. (Lorris: There are only five porcupines.)

"Well, I'm not doing anything near a bunch of fire-breathers! It weakens my power!" Nya screamed. (Lorris: They only breathe fire when attacked or attacking. And plus, they like swimming.)

"ENOUGH OF THIS!" Nilla yelled as she stomped on the floor. The room fell quiet. "If you all keep fighting we will be kept up the whole night. Cast a vote on who will be going." She walked away, the door slamming behind her.

"You know, the only person who has kept quiet this whole time was Lloyd, so you're coming with me. Good night to the rest of you!" Lorris called as she whisked the Green Ninja away to the rooftop, landing him right next to Akira, who stepped away from him with a sneer. Lorris dropped down to one of the dragons and nestled against the curl of his tail. "Hi, Shadowstalker! Nice to see you again!"

The dragon purred a happy greeting in reply.

A minute passed until about 9:30 p.m. and nothing happened. Akira was pacing again. "Why do I have to be stuck with you?" she snarled, pointing a dagger. Lloyd looked up from meditating. "What—what? Why do you suddenly hate me so much?"

"Because of what happened with my brother. Morro. YOU had to be the Green Ninja and not him. All because of fate and his ambition. He could have been a better leader than you ever were!" She placed her katana up to his throat.

Lloyd was taken aback by that comment. It held a lot of venomous hatred in it, and a sense of revenge. Shadowstalker noticed and grunted, lifting his head. Lorris lightly poked him and whispered, "Don't pay attention to them, we'll see about them later! Focus on the nightmare watch first."

Shadowstalker rumbled again and pointed a wing to Akira. Lorris looked up… there was a ghostmare hiding with invisibility on. And since the NightWings and star spirits can see through that invisibility, it was no wonder why Akira was so furious. "Oh, boy. Shadowstalker, do whatever you'd like to that ghostmare. It's your prehistoric archenemy Mind Control."

Shadowstalker roared suddenly and reared on his hind legs, shooting fire at Mind Control. She whinnied and let go of Akira's mind, leading to the warrior's vision to clear out. Shadowstalker took the fight to the air. Dragons are invulnerable to the nightmare attacks when they have a special amulet around their necks, and that's what our friend Shadowstalker had. He whacked his tail through the air, lighting it on fire, and deterring the ghostmare Mind Control, who hated dragon's fire.

Quickly the mare retreated, hissing, "This isn't the last time, and you know it! I shall wage war on forever!" Shadowstalker chased after her for a long while. He really seemed to hate her. In dragon speech: "You won't get away with your betrayal! I thought you used to be my Pegasus guardian who carried good dreams to everyone! YOU ARE A KILLER AND A MERCENARY!"

On the rooftop, Lorris was watching Akira recover. "Wake up, Akira! Did you know that you said some of the nastiest things ever when you were under the control of Mind Control? That just sounded weird, but who cares."

"What…? Oh, yeah. Sorry about that. But I still don't like you," she snapped at Lloyd. The warrior flipped onto the peak of the roof and started pacing again.

"Okay, she's sarcastic again, that means that she's back to health again," Lorris noted. She looked at Lloyd. "She's painful sometimes."

"Does she always act like that around people?" Lloyd asked. Lorris shrugged. "Only around peeps she just met, and not really around my family because we're all sarcastic together, though mostly I'm the one with hilarious insults. Why are you even staring at her? Why are your eyes super googly and why do you smell so nervous around her? Don't think I can't smell emotions." That statement made Lloyd very uneasy. She could smell emotions? Well, of course. All animals could, whether Zootopian or not.

"Uh, don't judge me, but…" he trailed off. Isn't this just so obvious?

"Oh. You like her? Okay, so that's why I smelled twitterpation all over you. In bird terms, it means you have a crush on someone."

"How do I even get near her?"

"Easy. You have to avoid her. And also, (Lorris whispered this to herself) she actually REEEEAAAAAALLLLLLYYYYYYY likes you."

"Uh… What did you just say? I didn't hear the last part."

"Oh, that was a secret that she had, nothing to worry about!" (No nervousness at all, so very unlikely that she was lying. Then again, she hates lying.) "Also, if you really like her like Jay and Nya like each other or Kai and Skylor or Zane and P.I.X.A.L. are compatible then just follow my advice. First step is to make yourself hard to get, aka make her think you're uninterested. It works."

She also told him something else: "Try dancing lessons. And thunderblades. She loves that kind of thing."

The nightmare watch continued, uneventful.


	3. The Attack on Ouroborous

Some time later, Lorris took the whole gang to Ouroborous to visit the rest of her family except for the triplets Aranettis, Ethenaris, and Gloranellis, because the Triple Trouble weren't in Ninjago and were instead in Cloud Kingdom.

"Why are we even going? I thought Ouroborous was destroyed by the Great Devourer," Nya called. Nilla replied against the wind, "Well, after that happened and after the ghosts came, our sister Hyperfang came back to Ouroborous and rebuilt it. She was the empress of the Serpentine before she left for a bit and returned to find the tribes in a war with each other, so she left again to see what would play out. Now she's back, restored order, and she can shift between legs and tail. And she still sounds like a nine-year-old, just saying! The Reindeer are there too, and Hyperfang and the reindeer are called the North Sky Gang. Let's hurry!"

The dragons flew faster while the Bounty put more jet power in. They landed just outside of the gates of a now-built wall made of white marble. "How did they even get this done?" Cole wondered.

At the gate, the Venomari guards crossed in front. "Halt! What businesssss to the Ninja have here in Ouroboroussss?"

"They're with us, Snappa," Akira announced as she pushed to the front. "We wish to meet with the Empress."

"Well, if that'ssss the case, then you are welcomed. Open the gateway!" The iron gates swung open, and everyone was greeted with a magnificent sight. There was a huge pagoda in the middle of the city. In front of it was the Slither Pit. Around the place were stately homes and offices. The Serpentine went about their day like anyone else would, except that they looked even better than they had ever before.

"Hyperfang lives in that pagoda, called the Tartine Palanquin," Lorris explained. "Her advisors are Skales, Fangtom, Skalidor, and Acidicus. Her Grand Vizier was Pythor, but then she made him scrub the floor because he was too greedy. And whenever she goes on a trip, her sister Janina steps in. She looks and sounds like a three-year-old. NEVER call her cute because she could as soon bite your head off as play with a doll."

Though the outside of the Tartine Palanquin was radiant in the sun, it was nothing like the inside. Pillars, nobility rushing about, the Grand Hall was gilded in different stones and precious metals, and there were the most beautiful exotic animals in the courtyard. Including a _lung_ dragon. (Chinese dragons. Always italicize _lung_.)

There was the throne room next. A pink Serpentine who was similar to Selma without the black eye markings, but with a long tail, sharp fangs a dress made of spring-green scales with a black velvet sash, and a huge grin, sat on the throne.

"Hello, Banana Bazooka and Cutifier! You brought the Fashion Designer with you? And those are the ninja, right?" Her tail switched into short legs (but still with the tail) and she skipped quickly over. "Hello! I'm pretty sure y'all know me as Empress Hyperfang, but I don't really like the title of empress, and since it's like that, just call me Hyperfang. Hey, guys! Come on over! We have guests!" she called at the window.

Nine Zootopian reindeer flew in. The bucks had red kilts and red criss-crossing faux-leather (with brass bells that didn't ring) that were somewhat like suspenders. The three does—Prancer, Vixen, and Blitzen—had different designs. Prancer's skirt was like rectangular plates a samurai would wear. Vixen wore a pleated velvet skirt. Blitzen had a plate-like skirt similar to long dragon scales. And it was all red. The criss-cross of leather was only around the belly area and the mid- to lower back. Above that was (for Chima people) what the eagle Eris wore (in Chima). And still red. Okay, this is a very long description, so moving along!

"Hi guys. You might already know me as Rudolph. And DO NOT sing that infernal and very inaccurate song." His nose glowed in irritation as he thought of it.

"Hi-I'm-Dasher-How-are-you-I-am-faster-than-Griffin-Turner-and-you-might-already-know." You couldn't even see his running.

"How's it goin', dudes? Call me Dancer." He had cool sunglasses on.

"Howdy, folks. The name's Prancer. Hyper, did you really allow a bunch of city-slickers here?" She whipped a lasso around in the air.

"Oh, hush, Prance! Please address me as Vixen, and be warned that I can turn into a fox any time I want to." Vixen had orange fur like a fox.

"¡Hola, mis amigos! I'm Comet, and I can go fast as Dasher! It is very nice meeting you all!" He had a tuft of blond hair on his head and emitted sparks.

"Hello, my name is Cupid. It's nice to meet you all." Cupid had a golden longbow and a quiver of golden arrows, with a *choke* charming smile and deep sapphire eyes. (Vixen: He already has who-knows-how-many fan girls!)

"Just call me Donner, which means 'thunder' in the German language." He had dark umber fur and a solid build. Not all muscles and that, just a strong build.

"Whoa, step back! This is a flask of hydrogen, and I don't want anyone getting burned. WAH!" KA-BOOM! "*kaff, koff* Okay, sorry about that. My antlers are cinders again. And my fur's cooked. I'm Blitzen Krieger, which means Lightning Warrior. Stop staring!" Cole had been staring because her eyes were an eccentric green that seemed to glow, and he was rapt because they were so ominous like a stormy night.

"You see why they call us a dysfunctional family?" Lorris asked the team. Jay nodded vigorously. "Yeah. You all have these cool abilities and stuff and are what, royalty? AND HOW DO YOU LIVE GETTING BURNT BY EXPLODING HYDROGEN?"

"Eh, it's just me because I've grown immune to it. I have a lab," Blitzen explained. "There are plenty of chemicals there. Anyway, what's going on with it, Terrors?"

"Oh, yeah. Well, we smell some Cupidity in the air. What level of Cupidity now, Agapos?" Nilla asked Cupid. The reindeer held up an arrow with silver streaks. "As of now, they're on level two, or new friends. But at this moment we are about to be interrupted, because my worst enemy is coming. Two of the bloodmares, Bloodlust and Hatred's Fire, are about to attack in three… two… one."

That was perfect timing because Acidicus barged into the room frantically, looking like he had seen a murder attack. "Your Highness! The bloodmares Bloodlussst and Hatred'ssss Fire are attacking the Ssslither Pit!"

"Round up the troops, Acidicus. Give everyone a red dart from the Infirmary. Those will stop you from siding with them when you inject the serum hidden inside," Hyperfang commanded. Acidicus bowed his head once and quickly left the room.

"Okay, while he's at that, I'm going out there," Cupid said grimly.

"WHAT! I thought that bloodmares were supposed to be the worst in the world besides the Deathmare!" Jay screamed. "I thought they caused horrible wars and stuff!"

"Well, take this red dart, and let's just fight them WITHOUT ANY BLOODSHED BECAUSE BLOOD'S WHAT THEY WANT!" Lorris screamed. She threw red darts from behind her back into everyone's arms. "YOW!" Well, at least they were protected now.

Launch, battle, and try to stay alive. Or… not. "YAAAH! A LITTLE HELP HERE!" Jay screamed when Bloodlust pounced on him and held him by his throat. Her razor-sharp teeth dug in and started sucking up red liquid.

"Hey! What are you doing to him?!" Nya shouted. She blasted some water at Bloodlust's face; she dodged and reared, causing Jay to hack and choke. "Don't get close! Or else your pitiful little friend goes to the Underworld and I drain his life by spilling his blood down my throat."

"She drinks blood?!" Kai exclaimed. Zane flipped backwards over a rock. "The bloodmares have an unquenchable thirst for blood. They'll never stop until everyone has been drained, and then still they won't be satisfied."

"Man, they're hungrier than me," Cole commented. "How do we defeat them without getting hurt? I mean, I know we have the serum to protect us, but—"

"Guys! HURRY UP AND GET ME OUT!" Jay shouted. "THIS REALLY HURTS!"

"Okay, that's it, let's save him! I'm getting tired of standing and doing nothing! NINJAAAAAA-GOOOO!" Kai bellowed, spinning into a blazing red tornado. The rest followed in pursuit. The Serpentine took care of Hatred's Fire.

Quickly the NSG leapt into battle, because Bloodlust was more out of control than Hatred's Fire. She had spit Jay out of her mouth, but he was out cold in Nya's arms. The bloodmare hissed, "Fools! Do you think you can stop me?" She crashed her front hooves into the ground, cracking the Slither Pit. And bellowed. Everyone cover your ears.

Once the dust cleared… "Hey, where'd she go?" Cole hollered. "Did she just turn invisible and leave?"

"Oh, great," Blitzen moaned, now clean and back to normal. "All nightmares can turn invisible and stay hiding, but when sagemares and bloodmares and the Deathmare do it, we can't see their forms except if we drink acid from the Toxic Bogs. Everyone must remain vigilant and keep an eye peeled. We have to drive 'em out of Ouroborous."

"So now it's the nightmare hunt instead of nightmare watch?" Jay sarcastically declared. Blitzen nodded. "Whatever you'd like to call it. Goodbye!" She flew off.

So far, nothing. The sniffing noses didn't smell any rancid odor or any manure. Unfortunately, when Akira checked in the kitchen, she was nabbed on the arm by some invisible force. She gasped, wrestling against it. It yanked back and snorted, "Don't try fighting me. Your brother will cause your sacrifice once we get to where you need to be." It turned into a dark mass of red that enveloped her and disappeared.

With Lloyd, he was snapped against the floor of the library and pinned down. He grunted, trying to get the invisible thing off. It hissed, "Don't resist. You are going to regret it once you realize that Hatred's Fire has gotten a sacrifice ready, and you won't be able to save them if you struggle." She whisked him off into the dark.

In the meantime, the Twins had split up. Nilla was walking down the hall when she heard Lorris roar, which was impossible for an ocelot. "Sis! What happened?!" she yowled. The doors to the relic room burst open. Out tumbled Lorris, roaring and fighting a mass of red in real ocelot form while it pinned her down. "Free 'em, Bloodlust! Or else take me and leave them be, because I'd rather die in their place."

"Very well then, feeble star. Your wish is granted." They vanished. Nilla's mouth had been open in shock. When she recovered… "BLOODLUST HAS MY TWIN!"

So everyone ran to the spot where she had seen them. "What happened?" Wu inquired. A much shaken Nilla whispered, "Bloodlust… took Lorris off… my sis said that she'd rather die in place of some sacrifices…"

"Hold on. Have any of you seen Lloyd or Akira?" Kai interrupted. They looked around. Jay called, "Okay, you two, this isn't funny! Will you come out of hiding?"

LE GASP! "They were the sacrifices!" Prancer frantically whinnied. Cupid set his mouth into a thin line. "Come on, follow me. I know where they're going."


	4. An Abyssal Sacrifice

Lloyd woke up to find himself in a cell made of vengestone. He was chained to the wall by vengestone chains as well.

"Good, you're awake," Lorris sullenly grunted.

"Where are we?" Lloyd asked groggily.

"We're inside the Abyssal Sacrifice Temple. It's not like those in Ninjago; it's actually a pyramid of steps. At the top is where the sagemares take out your heart. They use it in their spells while Soul Taker—the Deathmare—turns your body into one of her minions or eats it. She does that to anyone, even her own subjects. And Soul Taker's an empress of an evil empire." Her eyes glowed as she blew out glowing dust.

"I thought the Vengestone removed your power," Lloyd speculated. Lorris snorted. "It stopped my Elemental power, not star power. But most stars don't use their power to free themselves. Instead, they give themselves up as sacrifices because their magic is sent to guard worlds that are yet to be tainted, and then they fight the evil on the ones that have already been infected, so their spirits can rise up and live on in peace. Others sent to escape are messengers and witnesses of this evil. I'm one of them."

A small silence passed until a rattle of bones directed their attention to the heavy gate. A skeleton of a horse—skellion?—trotted up, holding an unconscious alligator on his back. His hoof unlocked the door and he threw the gator in. "There you go, Revosse. Try fighting that." The skellion's voice had a rattle to it, like bones.

Once he left, the gator started to wake up and began talking. "Where am I?"

Lorris turned full ocelot and put a paw on his head. "You're fine, Revosse. But right now you're in the Abyss and getting ready to be made a sacrifice. The chains are growing around you already." She pointed down, where chains were growing around his feet. Revosse sighed. "Yeah, I was being reckless and taking on a whole troop by myself. Wait… you aren't my old kin Lorris, are you?"

"Sorry, bro, but I am. I was trying to stop Bloodlust from taking two prisoners from Ninjago to be sacrifices. Unfortunately the bloodmares are as well smooth liars as they are thirsty. One of them is over there, also known as the Green Ninja, Lloyd."

"Oh. Hi," Revosse croaked, "I'm—*coughing*—I'm Revosse."

"Uh, hi." Lloyd managed a small smile at the gator, but then focused his attention on Lorris. "Who was the other prisoner?"

The ocelot's head dropped. She deadpanned only one word, which could cause a whole flood of horror (to Lloyd, at least). "Akira."

That one word caused a tide of emotions to go over Lloyd. Revosse noticed and tried not to smile. "A-a-ahem! So, where is this Akira?"

"She's in the cell across from ours. Morro the Moron's watching her. They somehow brought him back as a ghost, and he's a Black Pearl right now. It's a horrible scene to watch. Inside the cell with her is a small calico we know as Manabí. Her kittens are there too."

"No! Not the kittens!" Revosse cried. Lloyd was just as stunned. "They're going to sacrifice kittens?"

"Yeah. In about five minutes or so, everyone is going to be dragged up for the sacrifice. Brace yourselves and listen to what goes on."

They stared across to where Akira was staring at Morro in horror after a few nasty insults. "Morro, what do you think you're doing? What happened to you?"

"Oh, you don't remember the Yin-Yang Eclipse on the Day of the Departed, do you? I was helping Wu and the ninja. And along the way… I saw you. Such a likeness to Mother, who cast me out. I knew you were my sister. And you would as easily kill me as anyone else would. I so wanted to get my revenge… but I couldn't turn away from my duties. And once I returned to my spot in the museum, the nightmares brought me back. They know me better than anyone. They tried to help me get you to join us. And what did you do? You turned away from your own kin. It's time to pay back."

In the meantime, Cupid had frantically dragged everyone into an aircraft that looked much like the _Millennium Falcon_ from Star Wars. But it was pink, and instead called the _Milleni Gazelle_ for Gazelle in Zootopia. He fiddled with the switches, entirely taking over in place of Blitzen. With Cupid, it was out of pure instinct because he didn't study technology like Blitz.

"We have got to make this quick before the sacrifices start in about two minutes. Dasher! Comet! Get running on the treadmills! If we don't get there in time, those two are going to be put to death, or Lorris is gonna trap her in there for the next thousand years, fighting Soul Taker by herself. If she does that, nothing's going to live. All sixteen realms will be destroyed once her star power gives out. The Bounty isn't fast enough, nothing will work if my plan doesn't, and I am talking too morbid right now. LAUNCH!"

The _Milleni Gazelle_ shot into the air, faster and faster. Dasher was running faster than ever, nearly breaking his treadmill (he was well over 5,000 times the speed of light) and Comet had the same thing. They went into hyperspace and entered the Abyss.

"Welcome to the Abyss, guys," Hyperfang deadpanned. Kai shivered. "I already don't like this place. Sensei, is it all just darkness like this?"

"Not so, Kai," Wu replied. "This is the Plain of Fallen Stars, where the star spirits who join the Abyss pass trials. My father spied on this place, and he nearly got killed by a Dragon of Darkness. They say the only way to defeat the Abyss is from the heart."

"Okay, what is with the heart and stopping evil?!" Jay wailed. "That has happened so many times that I don't even know how to listen to what you guys say anymore!"

"Will you shut up?!" Cole snapped. "Look."

In front of them was a step pyramid with a purple mare at the top on a raised platform. She had an Anacondrai tail for hind legs, and a solid mane not made of hairs. There were markings around her eyes which we call an Eye of Horus here, and her purple horn emitted black shadows.

"That's Deathwish, the Head Sage. She performs all the sacrifices and uses the hearts in her potions. That's how they're so effective," Vixen whispered. "And there's a tall mare over there, walking like we NSG do. You see those huge black wings and that spiraling red horn?" The mare had blood red fur and wore black-and-gray iron plates all over her body. Flowing behind her and covering the silky black wings was a cape of hide. Bear hide. And she didn't have an ugly look to her at all; it was more—enchanting.

"She might look pretty, but that's Soul Taker. You don't know how horrible she really is. Evil is deceiving," Blitzen snarled through gritted teeth. Zane nodded in thought. "We have experienced it many times. Such as when New Ninjago City was built, and there was a virus in the system that we didn't detect."

"Okay, let's stop talking. Where are we landing?" Nya asked, slightly sighing. Cupid quipped, "Hold on tight. I'm dropping in a corner of the Abyssal Sacrifice Temple. Turn on extra invisibility, Prancer."

"On it, Agapos. We're cookin' up some catgut!" They landed in a hidden corner.

Suddenly one of the sagemares standing on a corner of the top of the pyramid sounded a gong. Deathwish whinnied, "BRING IN THE SACRIFICESSSSSSS!"

"Okay, what's happening? What's going on?" Jay stammered fearfully, watching the Abyssal beings cheer. Misako looked up in horror while the ground shook. "They're beginning the sacrifices. We have to save Lloyd!"

"Don't forget my sister or Akira!" Nilla shouted. "Let's hurry!" Quietly and stealthily, everyone rushed out and snuck around to where a stallion with a body that looked like a mixture of natural disasters was searing off the lock with a touch from lava-red hooves—stormcolt. "Getup! Come with me, all of you!"

From inside, Revosse the gator slumped. "It's time." Lorris put her paw on his snout. "Don't worry, Revosse. We have a few friends who can help. And as I'm an advisor to the Queen of Xanadu, I have a few things to do."

From outside, they had all heard it. "She is an advisor to the Queen of Xanadu?" Zane whispered in surprise. Nilla grinned sheepishly. "Yeah, we both are. But she's more like one of Her Majesty's bodyguards. And apparently she has another scheme. One way or another, she always has a plan that works, no matter how deranged."

"Get up, you lazy corpses, before you are all infected!" the stormcolt snorted. He started nickering as he roughly jerked up the sacrifices. First was Revosse. "I will remember you ocelots." Second was a stubborn Pegasus. Down in the crowd that was watching, they chanted over and over, "EAT. KILL." And third in line; the calico Manabí and her kittens from Akira's cell.

"Oh, no! They're going to sacrifice kittens?!" Nilla cried softly. "But they're so cute and they don't deserve it!" He love for all things cute caused her to break down in tears. Lorris smelled the tears and rolled her eyes. "Nillie. Stop crying. Why aren't you trying to save those kittens, then? There are plenty more in here, and also chicks hiding under a hen's wings. Do something and save them, sis!" she whispered loudly.

So Nilla stopped crying and wiped her eyes dry. Now they had a hard glint in them. A glint of fury. "That's. It. This is NOT going down!" She leapt up the side of the pyramid, everyone else following in pursuit. "UNHAND THOSE KITTENS!"

Manabí was about to be stabbed. When she heard Nilla's voice, she decided to do something. Kick the sagemare's nose off. And so a gladiator fight ensued, with Nilla actually leaving her pacifist self behind and unleashing a demon of Spinjitzu inside her. "I AM GOING TO DESTROY THIS PLACE!"

They definitely couldn't get near her, and while she was protecting the calico and her kittens, they led a still-normal-ocelot Lorris, Lloyd, and Akira up the steep steps. The ocelot was surprisingly calm and collected when she quipped curtly, "I thought Morro was supposed to be the one murdering his sister."

Deathwish sneered, "Ssssso be it. I promisssed him that privilege." She passed him a knife that looked like one of the Fang Blades. He chuckled darkly. "Get ready for this, my _dearest_ sister. It won't hurt one bit."

Akira struggled as she was pushed onto the platform, more like an altar than anything. All the blood had been lapped up by the bloodmares already. Morro threw the knife into the air, not noticing Lorris give Lloyd a small party bomb. "Throw that into the air when I say so," she muttered under her breath. Just before the sacrifice started, Lorris started snickering, "Okay—hee, hee—do it—heh—NOW!"

So Lloyd threw the bomb into the air while Lorris scissor-sliced her Vengestone chains off with a single snap of her jaws. She cut off all the remaining Vengestone, and then raced into the sacrificial chamber and freed the rest of the spirits.

"STAR SPIRITS! ATTACK!" Nilla screamed after seeing them fly into the air. Behind Deathwish, Soul Taker sniffed. "Well, well, well. I thought that those weakling Twins would do this. Poisonous, get the fallen stars here."

A sagemare with rotten fangs bowed and slithered off, trumpeting a cry. The fallen stars swarmed the area, fighting their former comrades.

Lorris turned back into Zootopian and yelled to Hyperfang, "HURRY UP AND DO YOUR SONIC SCREAM!"

And so, Hyperfang unleashed a huge scream that knocked everyone off their feet. Well, almost everyone. Only Soul Taker was unfazed.

The battle ensued even more fiercely than before until Soul Taker spread her wings and created a blast from her horn. KA-BOOM! This time everyone was silenced as the Empress of the Abyss swept into battle and disintegrated some of the stars with a blast of the darkest fire you could ever get. "Enough of this foolish fight. If anyone moves so much as an inch, I will obliterate them once and for all."

Pinned under her huge black wings were Lloyd, Akira, and surprisingly, Morro. He tried to get her off in vain. "What are you doing?! I was loyal to you!" he yelled as he grunted, trying to get her off. Soul Taker jeered at him. "You think so? I can still smell the light in you. I know how you are planning to overthrow me, former Master of Wind. And if you don't want to be in my ranks anymore, you either are released so I can defeat you later or you die of torture. It's all really simple."

For a long while, Morro was silent. He had been betrayed by a deceitful liar. "I was wrong to have ever joined you and sought revenge. I should have turned you away. I wish I was never here in the first place!"

Soul Taker smiled a very mocking smile. "So be it. Your wish is yours to keep." She lifted her wing and brought it down. Morro rolled out of the way just in time. "Aw, come on, what a petty little game." Soul Taker's eyes seemed to get even darker colored as she threatened, "Surrender, or else your sister gets it." She started choking her remaining prisoners. Morro decided not to surrender and instead to fight. "No."

From being pinned under Soul Taker's wing, Akira turned to Morro and cried with a strangled voice (due to the choking), "Don't do it! It's not worth risking your life!"

"Yes. It. Is." Morro got off the ground and drew his sword. From the bystanders, Dasher and Comet were still running/flying around. So far, no one had seen them because they were too fast. They were getting things from other places, including a party cannon, Lorris's special violin, a white mouse, and a black rat. They released the white mouse. "EEEH! MOUSE!" one of the Black Pearls screamed. "RUN!"

Dasher and Comet stopped just in time for a fist bump while everyone rioted. "Good work, bro," Dasher commented.

 _"_ _Gracias, hermano,"_ Comet grinned. They rushed into the fray like bowling balls. "LET'S HAVE A _FIESTA_! AYEAYEAYEAYEAYE!"

Lorris took up the violin and played out "Down by the Bay" for the NSG to sing along with. It caused everyone within 50 miles to start dancing, except for the people she didn't want dancing, and except for an angry Soul Taker who was covering her ears.

They finally managed to annoy her enough. "OUT OF MY SIGHT AND NEVER RETURN! OR ELSE I SHALL HAVE YOUR HEADS ON THE TEMPLE WALLS!"

So Lorris stopped playing, had the ninja, Akira, Nilla, and the NSG board the _Milleni Gazelle_ , knocked Morro out, and dragged him on with her. They went into hyperspace immediately and landed in broad daylight.

"Finally! I thought I'd never see the sun again!" Jay sighed in relief. Nya smiled. "Yeah, I was worried that no one would survive. And what's Morro doing here?"

"Oh, well, watch. First, land in the Slither Pit, and then I'll show you what I'm doing," Lorris smirked. "It's something that only Xan can do." She opened the door to the _Gazelle_ , hopped onto the Slither Pit, put Morro down, and put her paws together. She opened her closed eyes, now glowing a vibrant gold. Her paws spread apart to create a small ball of greenish light that floated up and wrapped around Morro.

When the dust cleared, he was standing there, just as alive as he had been before. He looked around. "What—what happened? I can… I can _feel_ again."

"YAY! It worked! Morro, you're alive now! You still look like that statue in the museum with greenish skin, but who cares. Won't your sister be happy! HEY, AKIRA!" Lorris grabbed Morro by the wrist and raced up into the _Milleni Gazelle_ , throwing Morro onto the floor. He hollered loud. "WAAAAHHHH! OW!"

There was a collective gasp. Jay, ever the loudmouth, screamed, "Is that Morro? ALIVE AND ALIVE?! What did you do, Lorris?!"

"Eh, nothing. I just revived him." She grinned brightly, and then roared, "AKIRA! GET HERE NOW!" So Akira grumbled and got out from inside the cockpit. Her heart nearly stopped when she saw her brother.

They just sort of forgot where they were, and raced into a huge hug. Cupid was all giddy on the inside now. Finally they had listened to him! Well, they left the siblings to their moment and walked outside.

"I can't believe Morro is alive now," Kai said. Cole answered, "Yeah, I know. He looks just like that figure in the museum, though. How did that ever happen?"

"Apparently it's only something that the Xan are supposed to do from time to time," Zane butted in. "They have a special power to have people become mortal or real, and they also choose what to give to them. In Morro's case, he retained his ghostly look."

"Yeah, well, at least he's one of the good guys now," Jay added. They walked off into the Tartine Palanquin to rest.


	5. Invitations

They squared off in the middle of the arena, scanning each other as to see who would make the first move. A third watched on, ready to attack when one attacked.

The girl waited as her brother began circling. He leapt off the posts scattered around to get to her. She jumped up and flipped over his kick. He rebounded, using Airjitzu. She blasted wind at his face. The third person joined, spinning and kicking them both. The girl flipped backwards onto one of the pillars and fired wind at him. Her brother made to attack her. She fought them both off as easily someone would scare off a bird. The third person rebounded, creating an energy ball. He threw it at the siblings. The girl deflected it easily, sending it back to him, and knocking him to the ground from his stance on the pole.

The person watched as the brother and sister faced off, combating wind with wind. Light breeze, strong breeze, a medium wind, and then a current faster than the jet streams. Finally it came to powerful gales whistling around the arena. The girl gave one final blast of hurricane speed wind, knocking her brother off his feet.

"Okay, now the winner of this round is Akira, again," Hyperfang stated, opening the door. "You guys are some of the weirdest fighters ever."

"Well, it's not my fault if Morro makes me square off against two people," Akira grumbled, shooting a very funny glance at Lloyd.

"Seriously, Akira, you need to chill out," Morro smirked as he nudged his sister, knowing about her secret crush. She whacked him, blushing. "Shut up! That's at least the fifteenth time you listed us three in a spar. I need to go to the library for now."

"Yeah, well, before you do that," Hyperfang drawled, turning on heel, "I have a message from a very spiteful enemy from the Abyss. She's a fallen star named Lilith, and she gave me a letter:

 _'_ _Dear Empress of the Serpentine,_

 _It is my pleasure and honor to invite the North Sky Gang, the Twin Terrors, and the Elemental Masters with you to the Dark Island for a new Tournament of Elements. This one will not be like Master Chen's, whose odious ideas are waste of time and an infernal plan. Instead, this one will be a simple event. No weapons are allowed, like the old rules say. You will be fighting to get a relic from Xanadu, the realm that guards the others, and will be leader of Ninjago in the end. If you lose, you are taken for my use._

 _Please consider this request as a truce. I know that I am a fallen star and cannot change, but I simply do not want more warfare. I don't like to serve beneath Soul Taker. Have a nice day and meet on the pier near the village of Stiix at midnight._

 _Sincerely,_

 _Lilith, Captain of the Fallen Stars.'"_

Hyperfang ripped that paper to shreds. "Lilith is a liar. She has that weapon for sure, but she's most likely using that thing as a decoy to get all the Elemental Masters into a prison for sacrifice to herself, because she wants to be in control. I already showed it to the others, and said that the Time Twins are coming too. Apparently they're good people now. We still have about twelve hours to midnight, so let's get to the library then because Cupid needs to tell everyone something. Except for Kai, because he'd blow up."

"What is it?" Morro asked. Hyper shrugged. "You'll see."

In the library, Jay and Nya were just standing awkwardly in front of Cupid. "So, the reason why I got you two here is because I wanted to know—oh, hi, guys! Come on in! Anyway, Jay, when's the wedding?"

"Huh? W-w-w-what are you talking about?" Jay stuttered. Cupid smirked. "Well, for one, you accidentally let it slip this morning that you had big plans two weeks from now. Second, Nya has an engagement ring on. Third, you two seem awfully close and excited about something. Fourth, Nya was asking on how much some kind of ceremony would cost. So tell me, when is it?"

"Ugh, okay! Fine. It's on December 1, two weeks from now."

"You two are getting married?!" Morro gasped.

"Kai is gonna kill you, Jay!" Lloyd muttered.

"This is just so exhilarating!" Hyperfang squeaked. "I'll go tell Dasher and he'll get Ed and Edna and Ray and Maya!"

"WHAT! Are you crazy? No, no-no-no-nooooooo," Jay yelled after her without success. He sighed. "Wait until Cole spills the beans on me and tells Kai."

"Tall Kai what?" Cole asked. He and Zane walked in. Akira squealed, "Jay and Nya are getting married in December and if Kai knows then he might kill someone!"

"GETTING MARRIED?! You're actually doing it!" Cole squeaked. Zane blinked and stated, "Congratulations, Jay. Why was Hyperfang running around just now?"

"Because she wants Dasher to tell my parents! You have to find her and get her to stop or it'll be the death of me!" Jay wailed. Cupid facepalmed. "Okay, fine, I'll go find her," he sighed in exasperation.

Only to open the door and find that Ed and Edna were already there. "I heard the news about the wedding! Oh, our boy's finally getting married! I've been waiting for this for forever!" Edna cooed. Maya and Ray came and patted Nya's back encouragingly.

"MOM!" Jay shrieked. Ed put a hand on his shoulder. "Now, now! Calm down, Jay! This is a cause for a happy celebration!" And so the embarrassment continued until Lorris and Nilla came in, out of breath. "Kai's coming! Act like nothing happened! Hurry, before he kills Jay because he's overprotective!" Nilla wheezed. Quickly, some of them found a book while others began chatting about nothing in particular.

"Oh, did I miss anything?" Kai asked. A too-frantic Jay stammered, "Nope! No, uh-uh, nothing happening here, heh. We were just—talking to each other."

"Jay, why are your parents in here? And why are my parents here?"

"Eh, no reason! They just came here again for one of their surprise visits. They always do that, remember? I don't even know how they know where I am."

Lorris got down a book from a shelf that read, _Wedding Plans by Cupid Agapos_. "Cupid, did you seriously write this book?"

"That? Yeah," Cupid said, "I just decided it would help with beating back angry in-laws, how much the things would cost, when to have it, and also how to get overprotective families to cool down."

"Well, it's certainly not helping this situation right now. I mean, if the guy with the carefully styled head finds out about what the thunderstorms are doing, then WE'RE ALL GONNA DIE!"

"Calm down," Morro hissed. "The only problem here is keeping quiet until December. If someone spills it about the wed—"

"DON'T SAY IT! PLEASE!" Jay screamed. Kai's eyes narrowed in suspicion. "Don't say what? Was he about to say 'wedding'?"

"No, no-no-no! Nuh-uh! Nothing! He was about to say the Wednesday party he was going to tomorrow."

"Oh, okay. Hang on a minute! Then what's on Nya's hand?"

At that, Lorris cracked. "OH MY GOODNESS! I am DYING, so say something and stop hiding it! Sorry about spilling your secret, Jay, but… Kai, he's getting married to your sister in December."

The next thing that happened was somewhat surprising. First of all, Kai blew up. Obviously. But not exactly in an I'm-gonna-kill-you way. More like someone who was informed that they missed a party. "You proposed without ASKING ME?! I thought that the other person's family was always supposed to know!"

"Okay, I'm sorry about keeping I a secret I was scared that you were gonna kill me! Honest!" Jay whimpered. Kai glared. "I'm not gonna kill you."

"Oh, okay, yay—I think; uh, thanks, I was worried that—"

"Yet."

Of course he would say that. Prancer decided to intervene and calmly separated the fiery storm from the frightened electricity. "Okay, enough brawling for now. You can turn each other to catgut as much as you'd like to once we're at the hoedown, because I'm not letting' anyone wet their whistles here. And if yer wonderin', this is cowboy speak. What I mean is no fightin', no beatin' each other up, and no getting drunk until we get to that party. Good day, y'all." She flew out of the room, leaving them to deal with their problems.

Soon, midnight came, and all the Elemental Masters met on the pier at Stiix. They were very surprised to see Akira, Morro, Lorris, Nilla, and the NSG. Also, they saw the revived Acronix and Krux there. They looked like they were Black Pearls, though.

"What are you doing here?" Shade demanded as they walked up. Lorris waved him off. "Relax, dude. That's Akira and Morro. They're siblings and the Masters of Wind because they both control the wind. I'm Lorris, Master of the Fauna, and my twin Nilla is the Master of the Flora. That over there is the NSG if you don't know already."

There was a quiet wait. A black ship with a Black Pearl of Chen controlling it loomed in front of them. A dark brown platform was set down for them all to cross onto and greet a smiling (Zootopian) cougar with black markings around the eyes. "Ah! Welcome aboard the _Deadly Nadder_ , everyone! I see that you all accepted the invitation. Come aboard. We will discuss things at the Dark Island."

"That's Lilith, guys. Watch out, because she is terrible," Hyperfang whispered. Once aboard the ship and out of the harbor, she spotted Camille sauntering up to Lloyd and tried not to burst out guffawing.

"Hello there, _Lloyd,_ " Camille drawled, accenting the name. "Long time no see." That was almost too funny.

"Uh… hi…" Lloyd answered, absolutely weirded out. Camille started flirting again. "I see that you've gotten handsomer since I last saw you." That made Hyperfang snort so loud that she nearly gave Neuro a heart attack.

"Um. What are you doing?"

"Aw come on, my precious Greenie. I didn't think you'd forget me so easily." She meandered towards him, trying to back him against the rail of the ship. Don't forget how wily she can be when she wants something.

"What's going on over there?" Akira asked Hyperfang. The snake sharply gasped for air, and then wheezed out, "Camille is trying to flirt with Lloyd and it's an epic fail! I was trying not to laugh because it was so entertaining!" She slapped a talon over her mouth to keep from snickering.

"What are you doing?" Lloyd asked again. Camille leaned against the rails and sent him a flirty grin. "Oh, nothing, Green Ninja. I'm just admiring you and your charm. My, didn't all that fighting keep you in shape!"

Cupid, who had shot an arrow labeled "Flirt Life", fell from his perch in the rafters and started roaring. Hyperfang couldn't help herself and rolled around, teary-eyed. Akira was trying not to grin at how Camille was failing to seduce Lloyd. And the Elemental Masters who had witnessed the whole thing were chortling in secret.

Meantime, Lloyd had been backed up against the wall. Camille gave off a sweet, almost sickening smile. "Oh, don't be shy. Your eyes are the most beautiful color ever, you know. I can't help but stare."

Kai, Jay, and Nya, who were walking around, heard that last statement.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Is that shape-shifter trying to flirt with someone?" Jay queried. Nya checked around the bend. "Not just anyone, Jay. She's trying to seduce Lloyd and already has him pinned to the wall."

"Should we help him?" Kai wondered. Jay shrugged. "I don't know, but I have a feeling he won't survive much longer if this continues."

Another huge bout of laughter followed. They saw Hyperfang, Cupid, Neuro, and Akira in hysterics. "Best… idea… ever… Cupid! AHAHAHAHA!" Hyperfang roared. "I can't breathe! It's too funny! But stop her before he dies of sickness!"

"Okay! Got it!" Cupid panted. "I'm probably gonna do something really comical, so watch!"

He flew up to where Lloyd and Camille were. "Ahem! Excuse me, you two, but while I hate to intrude on your moment, I have to say something. Camille, there's something loose on this ship that is dangerous to your beau (a beau is a boyfriend in old people language) and I'm afraid that it's lurking very near. I need to say that if you don't catch it soon, he'll be dying of either mumps, chicken pox, or bug spray." Eavesdropping Lorris called in the mythical animal called Cerberus and brought him below deck, telling him of what had happened.

"That shall never happen! Where is this beast?" Camille hissed. Lorris rushed over and gasped, "Guys! There's a three-headed man-eating dog below deck! You have to get him or he'll destroy us all, and also he's gonna infect the Green Ninja with all the diseases that Cupid was talking about!"

Camille raced off. "That beast shall never attack my precious emerald boy!"

Once she was gone, Lorris fell over in laughter. "Oh my goodness, that was the weirdest thing that ever happened!"

About a minute later, the ship stopped at the Dark Island, which seemed even darker than before. Blitzen's eccentric eyes glowed in worry. "This is gonna be very bad."


	6. The Hunger Games

There were fallen stars at the gates of a huge wall, barring everyone's path. They stepped aside to let Lilith through.

"Welcome to Shadow Manse, darlings. You will be staying here for the time it takes during the tournament." She opened the doors to a tall pagoda. "In the center of this hall is what you will be fighting for—the Claw of La Rocha (ROTCH-a), creator of the realm of Xanadu. If you succeed in getting to it, you have all the power in the universe. If you fail… well, let's say that you'll be getting the royal treatment."

"What does she mean by royal treatment?" Jay nervously whispered to Rudolph. Rudy whispered back, "She's gonna turn you into her prisoner. I know a few friends who have experienced it before. And that weapon on display is actually a fake. Those liars."

"Now my guards shall show you to your rooms," Lilith smiled deviously. "Alítheia! Kashrus! Show our guests to their chambers!"

Two Black Pearl kabuki ladies strutted down the stairs around the room and escorted the Elemental Masters to their rooms. Each was a similar design to the ones on Master Chen's island, only a duller color and barely any light. Well, glowworms called by Lorris fixed that. And so did Rudolph's nose, an anglerfish in a tank, Kai's fire, Comet's spark-fizzing, and Dasher's speed friction. So did another number of things.

"This is certainly going to be interesting," Lorris meowed to herself as she walked onto her balcony, sketching a scene of something. She could see all that went on below because she was at the top. On the right, one story down, Kai and Skylor were talking. Four stories below, Jay and Nya were laughing together. Next to her, Morro was inside and muttering to himself. He went outside and slumped on the rail. "Man, it's hopeless."

"What's so hopeless?" Lorris asked. Morro groaned. "I can seriously see Akira getting closer to Lloyd soon, and basically she's not cooperating right now. She won't try getting near him at all unless I somehow make her."

"What she needs to do is get out of her comfort zone," Lorris said. "She gets really defensive around the people she likes. When she went to high school, we found her all moony-eyed over several of the boys, but she didn't ever try to get near them. Mostly, when they talked to her, she got defensive, silent, and very icy. So that's what happens to a warrior who has never known that it's supposed to be a part of her life."

"Huh. You need to tell her that."

"I also see that Lloyd is moony-eyed around her. He definitely doesn't try to show off or anything, but. Ahem. Well. He gets super nervous, he uses Epoxy Eyes, which is Cupid's advice and means he stares whenever possible, and he also starts to get quieter. I think she's _irresistible_ to him." She said the word _irresistible_ as if using air quotes.

Morro spat out some water he was drinking. "No kidding."

At the worst possible moment, when Lorris was just about to finish off the background, a gong rang. She jumped and made a long mark down the middle of the paper. "Aw, come on! I was just about to get onto the people!"

She raced down and met up with Comet. " _Hola,_ _hermana._ I saw you drawing a picture. What was it?" (PS. Hermano/hermana are Spanish for brother/sister.)

"Oh, Shadowstalker was near, and since he can sometimes see the future, he projected a mental image into my mind and I began drawing. It was a pic of a selfie—"

The gong rang again and this time everyone rushed to the center of town. Lilith was waiting. "Hello, contestants. It is time for our first competition. The competitors of this will be asked to find tools and create weapons, trying to survive for…"

Jay barely heard her now. He was open-mouthed in horror. "No! It can't be! We're doing the Hunger Games!"

"WHAT?" Dancer whisper-screamed. "You're kidding me! Whenever Lilith hosts the Hunger Games, she turns it into a death match or torturing your opponent! You have to kill your opponent unless she changes the rules!"

"… and our fighters for the day will be… Shade vs. Tox, Turner against Neuro, Ash against Kai, and Lorris against Camille. May the strong survive. GO!"

They raced off. Lorris whistled and called Cerberus again, while Camille turned into a fox. Kai raced into the middle of a lava pool and began shaping weapons from there. Ash found a blade hidden among the rocks near the lava. Shade found three invisible weapons in the shadows (of course he did), while Tox found some of the poison dart frog venom. Deadly to the touch.

After five minutes, they squared off. Apparently the rules had changed to "disable your opponent, and then pin them down." Easy-peasy lemon squeezy for some, not so easy for others. Neuro had advanced his powers after coming in contact with a mind-reading NightWing named Truthseeker and got Griffin Turner down. Kai against Ash… similar to when they had previously fought, with the lava weapons clumping the ashes together so he couldn't move.

As for Shade vs. Tox, well… the poison was effective in giving Shade a scare and getting the invisible weapons. "UNCLE!" (Always say "uncle" when surrendering.)

And finally, the shape-shifter against the animal. Shape-shift into Nilla. "You seriously don't fool me, notorious chameleon with a criminal record longer than my tail. In cowboy words, Cerberus, head her up and round her out. In real talk, get her. And no hurting anyone, okay?"

"RUFFF!" and with that, Cerberus took off. His huge figure pounced on Camille, panting and wagging his tail. All three heads licked her face. In dog speak, the left head: "I'm in love. Are you in love?" Right: "I'm in love. Are you in love?" Left: "I am in love." Middle: "I agree I agree I agree I agree…"

"Alright, now, since this competition is over, the winners will be moving on," Lilith roared. "And for the losers! Karris, Emilio, Garonne! Take them out of here and put them in the cellar for now!"

Three fallen stars, human-like, slipped into the places. Each grabbed someone. Garonne grabbed both Tox and Camille. In the cellar it was actually clean, but quite lonely except for a few star prisoners against the wall. There was just all the basic needs, and still more chains for more captives.

Now it was breakfast time at the round table that had just been set up. The winners walked out from their areas of combat, not looking very happy. Only Lorris was optimistic in how they would be saved. "There's always a weird plan in my brain. Oh, yeah, and I'm going back to finishing my picture."

"Guys-guys-guys-guys-guys-guys-guys! Iwasjustracingaroundandfoundoutthat—" Dasher quirked in fast speech. Prancer whacked him. "Slow down, mate!" she snapped. Dasher slowed down. "The next game starts right after breakfast, and it's the Hunger Games with a very violent twist so don't actually hurt each other if you're fighting!"

"Uh, okay then," Jay slowly said. "I hope it's not me next!"

"I hope it's none of us, but Lilith has already chosen people," Cole replied, stuffing himself on shrimp. "What I really don't want is for nightmares to crash in, because I don't see any."

"You're unfortunate enough to know that I can detect them," Zane tinned. "All are invisible so we can't see them, but my scan shows their forms."

"Aw, come on! And just before the next tournament!" Jay groaned. "This new menace is weirder than all the others we've faced."

"And more dangerous. They don't bother with a bunch of sweet talk, they just hop in and try to annihilate people," Kai jumped in. "Did you see how Soul Taker was ready to take Lloyd's life? And she could even touch ghosts!"

"Okay, guys, I hate to break it to you, but I think Soul Taker knows about this now. Lilith hosted it without her consent," Hyperfang said, her pupils shrinking in fear. "Now the games are starting."

Contestants—Zane, Cole, Lloyd, Morro, Gravis, and Nilla—had to do air battles this time and knock each other off. They were barely in the middle of it when Lilith changed her mind and brought them back, rescheduling the tournament for noontime.

That was enough time for Lorris to finish the picture of the selfie she had been drawing. Who exactly was in the selfie? Ask Morro. "Is that Akira and Lloyd? Together and having fun in an amusement park?!"

"Yup, in the near future. Not exactly now, but soon. And they're on the scariest roller coaster in Mega Monster Amusement Park."

Oh, dear. How could that be happening? Well, look down. It was only six in the morning. The sun was just rising. One story below, Lloyd was looking toward the east and the rising sun. There was a brilliant purple color in the sky.

In the next room, Akira noticed him. She had no idea that it was a symptom of crushes, but her heart was pounding so loud she knew everyone could hear it. She definitely didn't know how to get out of her zone, but as she had decided to take the advice of a certain ocelot, she had to. Akira stepped out on her balcony next to Lloyd's.

He turned to greet her, but she beat him to it. "Sorry I was so distant earlier. I'm just not used to sudden introductions and I don't exactly like meeting new people." _APOLOGY ALERT!_ went off in Lorris's brain. She giddily giggled, but it sounded like a high-pitched pig squeal, so let's call it a piggle.

"What was that?" Nilla called from the other side of the building. Lorris piggled again. "It actually happened! I don't remember exactly why I'm doing this, but what was I doing again? Oh, yeah. Eeeeeh, the anticipation!"

Fortunately, below, no one had heard anything. Lloyd was staring at Akira in confusion. "What?" (WHY ARE THERE SO MANY QUESTIONS ALL THE TIME!)

She shrugged. "I just get distant whenever I don't really want to know someone or when I crash in. Mostly, I just hang out with the shadows."

"Why do you do that? You shouldn't spend too much time in the dark."

"Eh, I know. I just feel more comfortable watching the moon and stars. I feel safe with them."

"That's completely the opposite from me." They were suddenly interrupted by Lorris screaming at Neuro. "WHADDAYA MEAN SHE'LL NEVER LIKE HIM, I CAN HEAR THEIR HEARTS POUNDING RIGHT NEXT TO EACH OTHER! It's a perfect match, I tell you! PERFECT! MATCH!"

"That's not what their thoughts tell me! They're scared of each other!"

"You are SOOO not an expert at this. They are SUPPOSED to feel that way! Besides, I still remember all of those fights that went on, and YOU CAN READ ALL OF THEM IN MY MIND RIGHT HERE! HE WASN'T EVEN TRYING!"

"I think something bad happened up there," Akira whispered. Lloyd shrugged as he craned his neck upward. "It's not a pretty sight from what I see. Lorris is throwing things at Neuro."

"All that talking about spars up there reminds me of the ones Morro was having with us. Are you really that bad at fighting?"

"I still don't know how to fight the wind."

"You are a loser."

"It's not my fault that I lost! I didn't even know how to try."

"Why? Is it because you're so bad at it?" She snickered under her breath.

"How dare you!"

They talked and laughed for a bit more until noon. During the meantime, Lorris had pummeled Neuro with her memories of the spars. Once she was done, she roared, "Do you not see? He wasn't even TRYING! And listen to their conversation right now and how she apologized and them talking about the constellations and the sun and the moon and everything! Cupidity level in their situation now is Level 10, actual chats! Not some quick whipping sentences from time to time!"

Jay flew up from his place. "Guys, I heard the whole conversation!" he squealed. "Lloyd was about to ask Akira to go out with him after the tournament, but then he chickened out." His face formed into a sulk. "He's still stuck in the friend zone!"

"See, TOLD YOU it was perfect!" Lorris hissed at Neuro. Morro defended the mind reader. "What do you mean? He chickened out! That's not even a perfect match yet, he's being too nervous!"

She nearly killed everyone with her scream. "OH, SO IT'S FAKE? LISTEN TO ME! CUPIDITY IS NOT PRETENDING! I SHALL SUE YOU FOR ALL OF THIS!"

And so a very heated argument ensued until the gong struck noon. **_BONG, BONG, BONG!_** "YEEEEEEE! NOON DOES NOT HAVE TO BE SO LOUD!" Lorris screamed, jumping into the air. She raced down the steps with her sketch.

"Did you hear that argument?" Nya asked Lloyd and Akira as she joined them in the middle of the hall. Lloyd shrugged. "They were talking about something that did with Cupidity. I got a headache."

"You think you'll survive this fight?" Akira asked Lloyd, hiding her concern and only letting a sliver show. He sighed. "I hope I make it. I don't like this tournament."

"Ah, welcome back!" Lilith grinned, a gleam in her eye. "Now the Hunger Games will resume, and the winner will be given a small amulet acquired from Xanadu as a token of their championship! All fighters must now go to the gladiator arena, and—"

She never finished her sentence because at the moment, the doors pounded open and Soul Taker glided in.


	7. Darkness of Dragons

The room fell silent as Soul Taker entered Shadow Manse. Her voice was quiet, but each word was embroidered with the lace of anger and venom mixed with hatred. "Lilith. Did I ever you permission to host a Tournament of Elements in my temple? I do not think I ever issued an order to, did I?" _And I thought that the Overlord was worse,_ Jay thought.

"Ah, Soul Taker! Welcome! I was just planning to surprise you with this," Lilith smiled. "Of course you didn't allow me to yet. I never asked. And I don't need a stupid little excuse of a nightmare to command me what to do."

"Excuse me?"

"You heard me, Soul Taker. I don't listen to petty nightmares."

"Thank you."

"You are very welcome. Wait, what? How dare you thank me! You should be trying to kill me!"

"I'm afraid that you've forgotten that I'm not stupid. And thank you for finally giving me an excuse for hanging your pathetic hide on my throne as a reminder for everyone to know the story of the cougar who threatened to overthrow me."

"Thankful, Soul Taker? You shouldn't be so thankful for that. I have reasons to overthrow you."

"Name them, and hurry up, because I do not have time for this."

"You always say that. You are a villain who should be kept in check because you never give me the fair share of my bounty! I am the leader of my troops! They look up to me! They hate you!"

"That's only what you think. And my rules state that the leaders get the best of the spoils. You are only an insignificant speck in my plan. And your troops… well… fallen stars, pin your alleged 'leader' down."

Faster than you could say "supercalifragilisticexpialidocious," Lilith was on the ground and Soul Taker was looming majestically (and ominously) above her. "Do not question my authority, Lilith. For those who are part of the Abyssal Legions and betrays me by their disobedience, I have a special treatment from all the nightmares. Darkheart, tell Warcry and Executioner to bring Lilith to the sagemares for a sacrifice. I don't have time for this."

The bloodmare nodded and barked at the troops gathered outside.

"How dare you do this to me! Don't you know who I am? I am Lilith! I am the captain of the Fallen Stars! You shall never do this to me!" Lilith roared as she was quickly dragged out by two other bloodmares. Soul Taker sniffed. "I don't go around talking and pointing out my enemies' weaknesses, dishonored of the Fallen. I just set to work. Now leave me alone."

Once Lilith's cries were inaudible, Soul Taker whipped around to face the Elemental Masters. "This Tournament shall go on. But now, I'll be the one directing it. Listen to my every command or your heads shall be embellish this palace as trophies. For this to be complete, get out the imprisoned Masters." So that happened.

"With Lilith, the tournaments are bad enough, but Soul Taker issues a fight to the death most of the time," Rudolph shivered. "Usually she takes people out for a test first. If they live, they're in. If they don't, they're dragged out and turned to mince pie."

Cole gulped. "I regret accepting the invitation now."

Sure enough, there was a test. It was a test to see who would endure being dropped from a zeppelin. And Soul Taker isolated the couples—Jay and Nya, and Kai and Skylor. She weakened their powers because they got strength from each other.

Without, the hatch opened, and most plummeted down to the ocean below, just barely creating their dragons in time. Jay dropped out without Nya, who dove after him. They create that familiar hybrid dragon again.

"HEY, KAI! SKYLOR! COMBINE YOUR POWERS LIKE JAY AND NYA!" Nilla screamed up there. They created a radiant phoenix-colored dragon.

All that were left were Lloyd and Akira. He was on the edge of the hatch, and cross from him was her.

"So you two refuse to comply?" Soul Taker hissed, silently gliding up to them. "I have a few ways of making you listen." And with a touch of her horn, their energy was drained from them.

"She didn't drain their powers?!" Morro shouted. Nilla shook her head. "Nope! I think she was saving them for last to wipe them away because they're her main threats in Ninjago besides the NSG and us twins! We'll explain it later!"

"So, are you still afraid?" Soul Taker sneered. "I can fix that." She opened her right wing and knocked Lloyd to the open hatch. He barely grabbed on.

She slammed her wing on his hands. "Last chance, you two. Pass this test or leave this tournament and this place for good." Her fangs bared themselves, long and black. No one answered audibly, but Akira moved closer to the hatch with her sword out. The Deathmare smiled at her. "Poor child, swords don't affect me." And she swept her wing out, making Lloyd go down.

"LLOYD!" Akira bellowed, diving after him. From inside, Soul Taker sniffed. "So the girl finally obtains a backbone."

"Did she just call him by his name?" Jay asked. Kai scratched his head. "This is the first time I remember her ever saying it," he replied.

"We have to form our Elemental Dragons!" Akira shouted over the wind. Lloyd called back, "I can't my powers are too weak!"

"STOP PLUMMETING AND COMBINE YOUR ENERGY ALREDY!" Lorris shouted. "IT WORKED WITH THOSE FOUR!" She pointed at the two hybrid dragons.

Akira cast a quick glance at them, and grabbed Lloyd's hand. "She's right. We have to combine our powers." He nodded once in determination. "Let's do it."

About a moment later, a very regal dragon emerged. It would have been more majestic if it weren't bright green, dark gray, and streaked with red. "Hey! Look! It's a Christmas tree!" Lorris piped. "Wait, no, it's Slytherin!" Her pink-and-blue dragon roared along in delight. Nilla squealed, seeing the Harry Potter books in her mind.

"Hey, how about I name all the dragons? Mine's Mozart-a-Vinci!" Lorris barked. "Nillie, yours is Rarity from MLP!"

A list of dragons:

The water/lightning dragon: Electric Eel

The water/fire dragon: Boiled Water

The fire/amber dragon: Phoenix

The energy/wind dragon: Slytherin

The ice dragon: Frozen Titanium

The earth dragon: Mineralistic

The mind dragon: Brainiac

The poison dragon: Radioactive

The form dragon: Chameleón

The gravity dragon: Fritz Donnegan

The speed dragon: Flash Dance

The shadow dragon: Werewolf

The metal dragon: Pittsburgh Steelers

The smoke dragon: Volcanic Cinder

The wind dragon (Morro): Bon Appétit

The other wind dragon: Swift Wings

The energy dragon: Frog Togs

The amber dragon: Tree Sap

The fire dragon: Anvil

The water dragon: Pearl Oyster

The lightning dragon: Power Plant

The time dragon (Acronix): 24/7

The other time dragon (Krux): Alarm Clock

Since that's over with, they followed Soul Taker back to Shadow Manse, where she cast a roving eye over them and scorned them. "I saw too much hesitation in that test. It turns out that none of you Elementals have a real backbone like you should. You all passed, but most of you have failed to meet my standards. For that, your punishment is to get the worst of the situation."

The worst equaled bad food, sleeping on planks in the cellar, and wearing chains so that they couldn't escape. It was a good thing they didn't lose their hope.

"Guys, have you seen the NSG around here anywhere?" Cole asked.

"Come to think of it, not since Soul Taker came," Kai replied, scratching his head.

"Psst! We're hiding behind Hyperfang's hood," Rudolph's voice whispered. A moment later Hyperfang turned off her Anacondrai invisibility and retracted her stretchy hood. "Hi, guys! We're trying to hide because we don't want Soul Taker knowing that we're here! Oh, and also, Blitzen has an antidote for all your troubles."

Blitzen stepped out and threw a bunch of glittery stuff into the air. Lorris's eyes gleamed. "You found my stardust collection?!"

"Got it out of your room while I was snooping, sister," Blitzen grinned. "It's very effective in many ways. You just have to command it to do something before you cast it."

Meanwhile, the moldy bread and dirty water had turned into clean water and a fine meal of sandwiches. And the straw mats were now fluffy cotton. Everyone cheered happily at the sight.

"You know, if she finds this, Soul Taker's gonna send you all down under to your deaths," Rudolph warned. "Make sure that all of this is hidden by morning."

So they feasted, and while everyone was at it, Lorris pulled Lloyd aside. "Listen up. You ever heard of the Prophecy of Sun and Moon? It's about the Sun Ninja and the Moon Kunoichi, or a girl ninja. And according to me, you and Akira are the two in the prophecy and destined to drive the Black Pearls and nightmares out of Ninjago, but one of you will die in the process. My guesses are that she's gonna be dead, but I might be wrong. I heard that you chickened out today. And if you really like her, go on a date before one of you dies. Then you won't live with the regret of leaving her hanging."

She left and went over to Akira, saying the same thing but a little differently, especially in the liking each other part: "I know that you really like him, so I'd suggest waiting for him to ask you out really quickly before you die or something." So much for other pep talks, because her morbid words absolutely motivated them. Secretly, though.

"Hear me, o people! I bear dreadful tidings!" Vixen howled in Shakespearean, rushing in from a window. "Thy foe, the terrible Soul Taker, has brought a mass of the dragonest clan of the dark! Take heed now and guard thy spirits, for she brings their fire like the flames of the Underworld! Alas, Ninjago shall be doomed if thou dost not heedest me and defend from the behemoth's reign of terror!"

"She locked us up in Vengestone! How can we break free?" Shade asked. So Vixen motioned to Lorris, who clapped her paws three times. Mice scampered from all over the place. "Eeh! Mice!" Camille shrieked in disgust. They climbed onto the Elemental Masters and bit the Vengestone off.

"I thought that your Elemental Power was talking to animals! How did you do that with Vengestone on?" Jay asked. Lorris shrugged. "I befriended those mice before I discovered my power, and whenever I clap, they come running. They're anywhere, and they recognize me everywhere."

"Let's hurry and get out!" Morro hissed. Hyperfang snapped her talons. "Hide behind my hood! I'll go invisible, and since no one can see that, Soul Taker won't know where you went. We dug a tunnel from here to where the Temple of Light is."

They scurried behind her hood and sneaked off to the Temple of Light once they were far enough away from Shadow Manse. It was nearly destroyed except for the main room where everything was. "Okay, we're here. There's a glass hidden inside the bell which we use to spy on Shadow Manse," Rudolph wheezed. He brought the unreflecting mirror out and set it on the ground. Images formed in the glass. It showed ugly dragons that looked like the Overlord.

"Whoa, there are more Overlords?" Kai asked, confused. Rudy shook his head. "Nope. Those are the dragons of darkness. Though it sounds better as the darkness of dragons as if the dragons are hunted down by the dark."

"Only a wind flare can hurt them," Akira murmured.

"Wind flare? Kira, what are you talking about?" Morro inquired. Prancer answered for her. "Wind flares are made by gathering all the winds into a swirling ball, and then when you bring your hands together, it creates a sonic boom. That's the basics. There's a deeper meaning. The original Master of Wind was your granddad, and he created that move with the help of Sensei Yang. It's the second most powerful thing besides the energy blasts from Lloyd, and very effective. If Akira manages that move, the hounds out there are goners."

"I haven't mastered them yet, but I can try it now," Akira declared. "If this works, you might wanna cover your ears." She brought her hands together and tried to clear her thoughts. Inwardly, these were her thoughts: _Okay, no need to panic, Akira. This will work. Think of something that calms you and motivates you at the same time. Flame… currents… Airjitzu… jet streams… FOCUS NOW! Calm down, you know how to do this._

Finally her thoughts landed on who we call Agent Tree Frog, aka Green Ninja, aka Lloyd Garmadon. All of a weird sudden (you may know why I say that), she was calm. The warrior took in a deep breath, and tried as hard as she could to bring her hands apart because she could feel a force tugging at them.

"Well, I'll be doggoned! It actually worked, amateur!" Prancer nickered. There was a glowing, quickly swirling ball of silvery colors. Akira was about to slam her hands together when Cupid interrupted. "Don't! You're going to alert the nightmares to our hiding space! Never mind, I can hear Soul Taker screaming in anger because she found the secret tunnel! Get to the top of the highest peak, NOW!" Not waiting for anyone to act, he swept up Lloyd and Akira and raced to the mount, a dark speck against the gradually graying sky. Thunderclouds loomed dangerously overhead.

"Did Lorris tell you two about the prophecy?!" he shouted as the wind whipped out of control, without anyone directing it. "Good! You two have to protect each other! Because the dragon queen saw me!"

"WHAT? You let her see you? I thought you were supposed to be hiding us!" Akira screamed. Cupid snorted. "I had to! The countdown to the battle of life or death has already begun, and I'm gonna die if it doesn't happen! Even though the NSG and the Terrors are immortals! And also, ACRONIX AND KRUX BETRAYED US ALL! Only the stardust prevented them from freezing time!"

He created a stardust shield against the wind. It also served to defend against a dragon of darkness, flapping up to the peak and blasting smelly breath at them. This must be the queen, because the others were much smaller in comparison. She was WAY uglier than the Overlord. In fact, she was so ugly, Lloyd nearly died of fright.

The dragon queen roared, shaking the ground. Soul Taker flew up with her massive wings. "Oh, thank you very much, dear dragon queen. Go one and do whatever you'd like to them."

The other Elementals minus the Time Twins touched down, bringing the rest of the NSG. They were immediately shielded from the dragon by the stardust.

"What IS that thing?!" Kai trembled. Nya and Jay stepped closer to each other. Jay said, "That dragon queen's even worse looking than the Overlord!"

"Don't be so rude to my ally, Master of Lightning," Soul Taker snorted scornfully. "Hagarla here just wants to make a feast of you all."

"No. No. NO." Cupid was wide-eyed, his hooves over his mouth in horror. "This can't be. It can't be Hagarla and the Razormouths!" Then Blitzen gasped. " You've got to be kidding. Razormouths? Those things live with merpeople in another realm! They're the most vicious things ever! How did Soul Taker manage to get sea dragons here?"

"I don't know, but I have the feeling it does with a certain truce. The Abyss is swarming everywhere in all the sixteen realms, Xanadu not included. We REALLY need the hidden weapon that Lilith stole right now, because it's the only thing powerful enough that we have beside the Terrors' star power! At this moment! But I checked, and it's locked up in a chamber with no doors and no way to get in!"

"So the one on display was a fake?!" Kai screeched. "We need a lot of help!"

"Well, there is one thing that you can do!" Lorris shouted. "Sing! Hurry!" A gust of roaring knocked her down, and she frantically screamed, "THE SONGS! SING!"

Sudden realization hit the NSG reindeer. Cupid facepalmed. "How could I have forgotten? HYPE! GUITAR!" Hyperfang choked it up (weird, I know) and threw it at Cupid. He flew up and began playing a very happy song called "Down by the Bay". The thing is, it was for little kids. But still, it was fun.

 _"_ _OOH, down by the bay,_

 _Where the watermelons grow,_

 _Back to my home,_

 _I dare not go!_

 _For if I do,_

 _My mother will say-AY!_

 _Did you ever see a _ _ (optional preposition) a _?" (Fill in with noun, -ing verb, and rhyming noun after)_

So he repeated that, and the NSG laughed and flew up, putting their arms around each other's shoulders and singing happily. Lorris joined in. The song worked like magic. Hagarla and the Razormouths roared and left, teleporting back to their own realm. Soul Taker was very mad, fuming, but she couldn't get anywhere near the singers. "Fine! Leave it to your own ways! But you won't be able to leave this island!"

She cast a spell that caged the Dark Island. Nobody cared, though. They were having too much fun. Then Lorris sang the last verse for the time, saying, "Didja ever see a CLAW flying into my PAW?" She was referring to the Claw of La Rocha, and somehow the claw came to her. "YES! My hidden spell in the song worked!"

Nilla raised a paw, making a shelter out of the tree branches. Large elephant ear leaves were used for the roof. "I think we'll have to stay here until the rain ends, and until we can return to Ninjago."

While that happened, Akira created a smaller wind flare. When she put her hands together this time, it created a small boom and accidentally whipped up some warm sirocco winds from the desert. Just what was needed to warm everyone up.

Morro sat next his sister. "You know, I'm really jealous of you right now. What did you think of when you made that big flare?"

"Um… I'll tell you another time. In codename, the Terrors call him Cape Verde." Nobody knew that _verde_ meant green. Well, Morro somehow knew. He smirked, eyeing the Green Ninja. _You better take care of my sister, Lloyd. Or I'll scrape off your hide._


	8. Traveling Through Dreams

When everyone settled down to sleep, Lorris did the work of a Zephyr and linked their dreams together. Everyone found themselves in a clearing surrounded by starry mist and tall beings.

"What! Where are we?" Kai asked, rubbing his head and blinking. Zane did another one of his scans. "It appears we are in another realm, Kai. This one is shown not to have any nightmares at all, as my scanner says. I installed an Abyssal tracker."

Lorris tumbled out of the mist. "Hello, people! Welcome to your dreams! I connected them so we would all be in the same place! And dreams like this are no ordinary dreams. They're actually more real than you know."

"Thanks for linking them, Lorrie, because I need to show everyone around," Blitzen smiled. "This is called the Opal Circle, because this is the first place you go to whenever you travel to Xanadu. There was a bunch of pickaninnies the last time I came here. We're mostly showing you the Town of Zephyrus. Lorris is one of them."

Lorris led them from the clearing to the Town of Zephyrus. Star spirits stared from all corners. Jay whispered to Kai, "I really feel nervous around them. What if they can see into me?"

"I know, I feel the same!" Cole interrupted. "They just are so powerful they make us look like naked mole rats!"

"You can please stop talking now, guys," Nilla called. "We're in the middle of a talk with Xanthus right now, because we need him to give you permission to explore this place. He's the one who's in charge of the Zephyrs of Sleep with his brother Balius. And even though you guys are asleep, you all are also in Xanadu. Everyone here can see you."

"Okay, he said yes," Lorris said as she merrily skipped up. "So, whose dream list do we visit first?"

No one volunteered. Seconds passed. One… two… three… four… When the silence was unbearable, Gravis put his hand up out of boredom.

"Okay! So the master of gravity is first," Donner nodded, tapping on a marble slab on the ground. The names of all the dreams surfaced in front of their eyes. "So nothing invaded by nightmares, just a few recollections of earlier events and funny imaginations of the future. Now I'm just gonna go down the list. Next is… Ash. Not many dreams. All are surrounded by smoke. Next…"

Once he saw the dreams of the next person, he nearly spat out a laugh and clamped a hoof over his mouth to keep it down. Vixen took over. She had no such luck as Donner and began rolling around. So Cupid took a look, and he read out loud, "Jay' s Dreams: running from an angry Kai, being attacked by teapots during his wedding, MARRYING DARETH?! WHAT? Never mind. Truth or Dare, samurai—"

He broke off. "There's one fake nightmare in this called I Love Kissing Pillows."

They moved on to Kai. Mainly fire. A nightmare that he was with a female version of Lloyd. (LOLs as in Lots of Laughs here, please.)

Then there was Cole. A nightmare of Marty Oppenheimer's School.

Then it was Morro. One of the dreams was a blog he had made, titled, "When Will My Sister Get Together With Agent Cape Verde?" That caused Akira to get extremely mad at Morro, and he spent the moment safely stuck on Donner's antlers. No one knew what Cape Verde meant, still. But then love expert Blitzen pulled Jay, Neuro, Griffin, and Kai aside to say, "Verde means green in another one of the foreign languages we know. Who's the green guy in this group? Because Tox is definitely not a guy."

Once Jay realized it, his hands flew up to his mouth. "OOOOOOH! So it actually is gonna happen!"

Meanwhile, another one of Morro's dreams was "The Energy Dragon Goes Well with Gail." Gail was a play on the wind called a gale. WIND! Only one other who had it! And so Lloyd nearly blasted his face off. Now Morro was hidden behind Vixen, whose cuts and slices were so much sharper than Akira's she would turn you to dust before you could say "Buncha Muncha Crunchy Carrots." So Lloyd stayed well away from that.

Next was Akira. The only reason she would allow them to see it was when Balius encouraged everyone to look. There were horrific nightmares mixed with good dreams, and Balius said that the zephyrs couldn't always defend against the influence of the nightmares, so he apologized for that. One of the dreams Cupid pulled up for himself to see. "There's a nightmare attacking Akira… Soul Taker… Cape Verde hopping in front of her to save her… was this only a moment before Lorris dragged you here?"

Akira sighed. "Yeah, it was. I was crying in my dream."

"And I saw you crying in real life too," Lorris pointed out. "Some others were restless too, so I decided to bring you all to a peace of mind." She didn't point out that it was only Lloyd who was restless and the others only stirred a little.

Next was Lloyd. Cupid took one look at the name of the first dream and collapsed in laughter. "What in the WORLD did you dream yesterday?!" he wheezed at Lloyd. The boy hid his face in his hands to hide his blush.

Instantly the magnificent stallion Xanthus trotted over. He smiled. "You know that I was the one who sent that dream?" he chuckled. "It was a perfect time." The dream was titled, "Who I want to Marry." START LAUGHING! You all know who he wanted to marry. No one else saw the title, luckily… except for the NSG and TT and a certain mind reader hearing their thoughts. He got sick at the thought.

"Okay! I'm done!" Lorris gasped. She was still shuddering. "No one wants to know, though the owner of Brainiac already knows! Let's move on with all of them, then! I'll spare you from further embarrassment!"

They went on with the next few dreams, and then Lorris took them down the Alley of Nightmare Plague. "Let's go to this road, with a bunch of armored guards along the walkway. They're monitoring all the realms, keeping watch on the nightmares. When they can't stop them—and it's really hard to—they know that it's fate. What's the situation, Ivan?" she asked an elephant.

"Nothing too bad that we can't handle. The Abyss is not in the Cloud Kingdom," the elephant answered with a small head bow. Lorris tipped her ear in acknowledgment. "Good to know. How about you, Sol Invictus?"

Sol Invictus, the lion, growled. "You should know! You were just here! Ninjago is being covered in attacks by the Abyss because of its heroes! They have a taste for the land." Nilla shrugged sheepishly at him. "We know, sorry. But we just wanted to check with you. How's Her Majesty?"

"The Queen is doing fine. Currently she is traveling to fight Soul Taker. I just hope she makes it back, unlike the time they nearly destroyed the North Star." Sol sighed. "She just wants to protect the realms from that danger. However, some like the Underworld are incurable."

"Yeah, I tried helping with that. It didn't work," Cupid sighed. "I wish it did, and I know that the best remedy for anything is a word from me."

That was when they decided to return to Ninjago and wake up. Everyone remembered exactly what had taken place.

"Whoa! So we were actually with the Xan and stars?" Cole asked. Zane nodded. "It seems so. And it seems strange how all my dreams have a deeper meaning in them, like a prophecy when I dreamt about the Green Ninja fighting Lord Garmadon some time ago."

"Yeah, well, it was super scary! Akira nearly killed me!" Morro roared. "And so did Lloyd. It was only because I was hiding behind Donner and Vixen that I'm still alive and running!"

"Oh, yeah. The dreams were about the Energy Dragon and your friend Gail and Akira and some secret agent named Cape Verde!" Jay laughed. Nya rolled her eyes and smiled. "That part was really creepy." They started babbling randomness.

"While you guys babble, you're gonna be missing out on the concert that NSG's giving," Cole announced, "They just set up a cave for it."

"What?!" everyone—Nya, Jay, Morro—roared.

"Uh, yeah. You guys missed the announcement? Hurry up! It's protected by a stardust shield!" They flew over as fast as possible, and found Hyperfang hacking up a stereo. Jay recoiled. "Ew! Does that thing even work? It was in our system!"

"Yeah, it works. If you haven't watched the Penguins of Madagascar and seen Rico, then you wouldn't understand," Hyperfang sniffed. She gagged up a few CDs.

"Let's do this one," Rudolph said, clicking in one labeled _Plant Fiction_. "First up! Dasher, take it away."

"Pompeii" by Bastille began playing. After was "Viva la Vida" by Coldplay, sung by Rudolph. Next was "A Thousand Years" by Christina Perri, Vixen. (I got the idea from watching a Pixane music video. PIXANE FOREVER!)

There were some more.

"Okay, that was only a few songs, but I wanna switch to _Jaya Wedding Songs_ now. This is a sneak peak for Jay and Nya's wedding," Hyperfang called. She flipped in _Jaya (Jay x Nya) Wedding Songs_. EEEEEEEEH! Sorry, got a little carried away!

FIRST UP! Rudolph leading in "Weekend Whip" as a tribute for all the ninja. Ain't this interesting? YIPPEEE! Turn on Zane's funny switch! (Author's opinion: One of the best songs EVERRR!)

Next was a few romantic songs sung by the NSG does. After was a Cupid show of "Stitches" by Shawn Mendes; then "Geronimo" by Sheppard, Dasher and Prancer; "Can't Stop the Feeling" by Justin Timberlake, Dancer; "Try Everything" by Shakira, Vixen.

"Anyone wanna hear the rest? This is only a small excerpt," Blitzen called.

"Go back to 'Stitches' and hurry!" Morro shouted. "I need to do a little thing and get Akira to do something."

"You know what?" Lorris interjected, "Normally they say I can't read minds, but I can see EXACTLY what's going on here. THAT IS GENIUS, DEAD MEAT! DO IT! And I call anyone and everyone Dead Meat whenever I want to." So Cupid had Hyperfang start the song while Morro dragged Lloyd from sitting—he didn't want to dance—and Lorris picked Akira off the ground. Bonus: Cape Verde was sitting with the Gail. Now they were facing away from each other and blindfolded by Nilla.

For this to work, they had to shoo the other Elemental Masters out, except for Morro and Camille. Those two were in the plan.

By line one; blindfolds were off.

Line two: they were facing each other and looking very awkward.

Line three: Camille was restrained and tied down with Vengestone.

Line four: Lorris shot stardust at them. It swirled in a spiral until the chorus.

Chorus: Nilla made flowers dance around them. They started looking around.

By the line _"I'm trippin' over myself"_ : Hyperfang went invisible and tripped Akira backward. Lloyd raced forward and caught her.

After that line: Akira spun to her feet and knocked Lloyd over. She gasped in shock and stopped. He grinned and got up, spinning her away. And it got very happy from there for everyone except for a very jealous Camille who Lorris was guarding. The ocelot had a knack for being immune to bribes and flattery.

What exactly happened: As the two were spinning their tornadoes, Akira stopped and yanked Lloyd out of his Spinjitzu. She leaped over his head, and so began a game of cat and mouse. Lorris was fangirling on the inside—she shipped this to extreme.

Suddenly Vixen got a pair of rollerblades for each. You should know that they started skating around each and mock-fighting.

 _Needle and the thread:_ combining their powers a little, half wind flare, half energy ball. It turned into two doves that lighted on one shoulder of each.

Last verse: doves collided and created light that engulfed them both. Cupid smiled as he finished the last note and looked into the light (he can see moments of romanticity and cupidity. I made up the word romanticity.). They were just staring and smiling, staring and smiling. When it was over, Dasher went out and dragged the other Elementals in.

"Oh. My. Little Pony." Prancer was standing, eyes wide, staring at Lloyd and Akira, who were now sitting next to each other. "This was the best idea ever. HOW IN THE OLD WEST?! It's better than an evening brawl at the saloon!"

"Okay, so did anyone see anything?" Lorris asked. Everyone shook their heads. Neuro shrugged. "I don't think seeing into their minds counts."

"Eh, whatevs. It was a little boring after a while," Hyperfang yawned. "Actually, I'm kidding. It was really cute!"

Camille burned with rage, still having a Vengestone bracelet on her wrist. "Are you SERIOUS? He was supposed to be MINE! Not that filthy, stinkin', punk, putrid-breathed, mangy, ugly windmill!"

"Shut. Up. Camille," Morro hissed through gritted teeth, "That's my sister you're talking about. Just accept your fate. We were trying to show you it."

"Well, I don't care. That's not my fate! That skunk is no match for my perfection! She doesn't deserve any of this at all!" she came up to Akira and brandished a blade, growling, "I am going to make you pay for this, you rotten, Astro-Turfed, whatnot of a donkey, you filthy flea pelt!"

"Wow, nice words," Akira stated coolly, "You should've called me a hairball that fell from your maggot-eaten scalp, or maybe a sneerdagard, because I'm not the one who really needs to argue, chameleon." Ooh. A comment of "burn" came from some of the Elementals as Camille only raged the more. And this was no nightmare, it was jealousy.

"How DARE you! I don't need form to kill you, I could do it right here. You've cast Lloyd under a spell and your death will free him from it!" Okay, that was a bit violent. By now everyone knew that she meant it, and Akira stood up and backed away. Morro wasn't going to allow his, so he asked Nya to fill a hollow stone full of ice-cold water mixed with ice cubes from Zane. Once that was taken care of, he sauntered up to Camille. "Ahem, are you ready for the ice-bucket challenge yet?" SPLASH!

"AAH! Why is it so cold?!" Camille shrieked. Morro smirked. It's because of the ice bucket challenge. Oh, and do not mess with Akira again or I'll have you on a ride to the underworld."

Camille very unsuccessfully tried to make a comeback. "Huh. What? Is she, like, your secret girlfriend or something?" OOOH. Baaaaaaad idea. Don't talk to someone's sibling like that or else this will happen: "SHE'S. MY. SISTER." (Blast of wind) (Camille was knocked out)

"OKAY, ENOUGH VIOLENC! I'VE ALREADY SEEN TOO MUCH MORNING DRAMA!" Lorris yowled, waving a white pennant of surrender in the air. "Let's have lunch, alright? And leave Camille there. She'll wake from her delirium soon enough. Yeah, she was delirious. StarClan knows what happened to her."

"Okay, lunchtime is a little bit of imperial salmon!" Prancer announced. "There's enough for everyone, and make sure that Soul Taker doesn't get smell of this. We mean direct the wind away from her sense of smell, or drive it over the ocean."

That taken care of, everyone relished Prancer's cooking. "Thith ith tho good!" Cole mumbled through smacks of food. "How'd you make it?"

"Hey, we don't call her the Coosie Cuisine for nothing," Dancer winked. "She's had experience at plenty of Master Chen's noodles, too, and also exotic dishes such as Land, Air and Sea Paella (pai-AY-ah). It's really good."

"Well, we better hurry before a villain suddenly dive-bombs this feast again and ruins everything. Why does it always happen?" Hyperfang groaned. She threw a fillet into the air ad swallowed it whole. Jay inched away. "Is that thing ever gonna…"

"Oh, come up again? Nope, I've swallowed it so it passes through my digestive tract. My other stomach is a storage stomach. Okay, that sounded really weird just now; anyway, are we done? I think the villains are ready to crash into this base. Hurry up! I'm going outside, goodbye, because a stormcolt is wrecking the environment with a hailstorm! ROAR! DIS IS BAD!"

"I'm catching up with her. And we do need to bring the stereo, because we usually accompany our fights with a song," Dancer said. "Okay, this is going to be fun!"

So he perched on top of the cave entrance as Hyperfang pitter-pattered into battle, spitting venom on the ground and conjuring a WAY-COOL (but pink-colored—still snazzy!) motorcycle. Whoa. The stormcolt met her, face-on. He thundered out, "What do you want with me? You know that you will never win!"

"Frostbitten Soul, you are a conceited snob!" Hyperfang hissed. (He is.) The stormcolt raged. "Wretched fool! I am a winner! You WILL lose!"

"You wanna say that?! BET ON IT!"

"Yes! Now I know which song to plug in!" Dancer cheered. He turned on "Bet On It" by Zac Efron. The fight's too awesome to include in here, so try to imagine it while watching the Ninjago music video of "Bet On It".

Eventually, Hyperfang's "madskillz" took Frostbitten Soul down and sent him fleeing like a crybaby. But she wasn't done yet, so she seared the ground with venom and crumpled a few invisible plaguemares to dust.

But soon she was surrounded, so she started to scream, "DANCE-FIGHT! LET'S JUST HURL THEM AWAY AND HURRY!"

Immediately the Elemental Masters rushed into battle as Dancer replayed the song, using weird effects to fight the nightmare evolutions. (At the line _Bet On It_ , the nightmares started making a bunch of pompous movements that distracted themselves enough for them to be disintegrated.)

Well, finally they were gone. But then Cole looked around and said, "Where the heck did Akira go? She was just right here."

"Maybe she's just fighting in a different place?" Kai suggested.

"Or maybe she was captured and now held hostage by Soul Taker!" Jay threw in.

"She couldn't have gone far, right?" Kai asked.

"No unless she used her Elemental Dragon, Airjitzu, Spinjitzu, the wind, or the Turbo Duo," Zane replied. "I doubt she used any of those, and I don't see any traces of her around here, so the most likely would be that she's been taken prisoner."

"Okay, this is getting old," Lorris meowed irately. "And now Lloyd is heading to the Temple of Light, I'll follow and report from there." She whistled, and Cerberus came again. "Let's go, boy! Giddy up!"

BARK! BARK! HOWWWWWL! They took off. Picking up speed at an alarmingly breakneck speed, Cerberus brought Lorris to the top of the mountain just as Lloyd touched down on his dragon. He blinked in surprise when he saw her, but ignored it and kicked at the huge bell in the middle of the temple.

"Ahem, Agent Cape Verde, are you done yet?" Lorris coughed. Lloyd snarled. "I can't talk. I have to save her." And he proceeded to disappear into the bell.

"Oh, well I'll be. They better get back soon or I'm gonna decapitate Soul Taker." And then LORRIS followed him in, commanding Cerberus to go back and report.


	9. Perpetual Warfare

"AAAAAAH!" Lorris screeched as she fell through the portal apparently no one had heard about before. Lloyd definitely wasn't screaming. There was too determined of a look in his eye.

They landed in a boggy, foggy place. Lorris face-planted into the mud. "MRROW! That was NOT PRETTY!"

"Well, well, well. If it isn't the Green Ninja and one of the advisors to 'Her Majesty.' So glad of you to join your beloved Wind Girl," a silky, cold voice sneered from the fog. Lloyd whipped on his mask. "Come on out a face me, Soul Taker! I won't let you take her!"

"Oh, my, am I so afraid! Oh, I'm just terrified!" Soul Taker's voice mocked fear, and then she chuckled. "You've failed, Lloyd. I'm not going to tell you what I'm doing to her, but believe me; it involves a lot of pain. Actually, now that I've said that, I'll tell you. She'll be kept in short chains made of Vengestone, in a basin full of water. She'll be slowly drowning as the ghostmares enter her mind and fill her with terrible thoughts. All my stormcolts will have the pleasure of battering her down with their worst. The skellions will be breaking her bones to tiny pieces, the plaguemares eating away at her flesh, and my bloodmares drinking up like vampires. After, they will be dunking her in lava pools until she screams up to Xanadu. But I don't want her to die. No, I need her alive. You full well know the reason, don't you? You care too much."

"Of all the things you can think of, Soul Taker," Lorris growled, "you have to choose the worst. What is wrong with you, you fiend? Cursing this innocent heart of hers and feeding it to the demons because you deem love worthless. You devil!"

"You speak the truth all too well, Lorris. You will expose me," Soul Taker purred. It wasn't one of those gentle, warm purrs everyone likes. No, this one was icy, calm, filled with hatred, and deadly. "Say goodbye to your sister for me."

The floor opened up, and Lorris and Lloyd found themselves in a Vengestone cage. Soul Taker appeared before them in a cloud of black smoke. "It was nice of you to drop in. And while this goes on, I'll promise to release Akira if only you would join me. If not… well, let's see what we can do. Deathwish, go and take them to see the torture chamber for themselves."

Deathwish slithered up and hissed, "Assssss you wissssshhhhhh, Sssssoul Taker." She tapped the cage once with her horn. It relocated to a room filled with rows upon rows of waiting nightmare evolutions, with a mass of Abyssal creatures behind them. In the middle of the red-walled chamber was a pool of icy cold water. Around that… well, let's say torture weapons (whips, scythes, clubs, ropes, daggers, branding tools, etc.).

"Get! Off! Me! You! Mouse-heart!" Akira grumbled as she struggled against a bloodmare who was bringing her into the room. The bloodmare whacked her. "First of all, the name's Malice. Second, I'm not letting go. Or you can watch HIM be tortured instead." She flicked an ear toward Lloyd and Lorris, who were dangling from the ceiling in their cage.

"Akira! Hi! We decided to drop in!" Lorris grinned and waved. "Actually, I'm not happy, so NO ONE MESSES WITH ANYONE ELSE!"

"What are you doing here?!" Akira screamed. "You can't!"

"Oh, actually, I was just following this guy over here. He's the one who got the idea to follow you."

"That's enough talk," Soul Taker's voice boomed throughout the cave. "Get on with the torture already. And, I already promised that if you turn yourselves over, I'll release her."

Lloyd opened his mouth to speak when Lorris meowed at him, "Don't. Releasing someone to the Abyss is actually releasing them from this life and sending them to the land of eternal sleep." So Lloyd didn't say anything.

By now, Malice had bound Akira's mouth shut and had dunked her into the water. "Say, how's this, eh? HAHAHA!"

It was too painful to bear. It was only because Lorris had somehow used a Harry Potter spell on Lloyd (a full body-bind) that he was unable to do anything except stare and feel his heart break into pieces.

Well, it affected Lorris in a different way. She was horrified, but not too worried, because her mental countdown to the line in the prophecy when one of them would die hadn't reached that part yet. Akira would stay alive. What Lorris was doing: trying very unsuccessfully to keep her panic from building up. She gnawed at the cage, trying to snap it down. Finally she gave up and pulled out a violin from behind her back. How'd that get in there?

Well, the only thing I'll say is this: It's no ordinary violin.

The moment Lorris plucked a string, time just STOPPED. Well, it was like that. It was actually sending a signal to the NSG in their heads.

Cupid, who was flying around and helping Cerberus search the Dark Island, stopped still. "By the First Spinjitzu Master, something's happened! Cerberus, come on! I have to tell the others about the signal!"

He rushed to the cave, where the reindeer and Hyperfang was frantically looking at each other. Of course, they had gotten the signal too.

"Hey! What's so crazy?!" Morro snapped, trying to get Hyperfang's attention. She turned on heel and snapped back, "Please be quiet! I just got a signal from Lorris saying that they're torturing your sister in some dark cave near a bog on this island, and Lloyd wants to go down and save her, but they're being restrained, and I'M TRYING TO THINK! SO LEAVE ME BE! You have the RIGHT TO REMAIN SILENT!"

Then she fell quiet, calm and collected. Rudolph's nose glowed bright red. "Oh, no. This is a battle we have to face with raw power. Everyone, I think I know where it is. Follow me."

They followed Rudolph to a bog. In the ground, the torture was about to begin.

Well, it was gonna be delayed. Apparently Soul Taker thought that it would be better to save Akira for an hour before it was time. Lorris decided that it was enough to send her plan on the way. "Hey, why aren't you hanging her up here in this cage too? Because you'll have a better time dropping her from up here!"

"Oh, I was just about to suggest that," Soul Taker sniffed, "Throw her in." So they did, and Lloyd caught Akira before she could thud down.

In the meantime, Cupid had gotten the stereo again. (P.S. It's somehow a wireless one and doesn't need a plug.) "Okay, now the thing I'm putting here has nothing to do with anything, but since I like being random, I guess I'm putting in 'The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly.' But let's wait for a bit before playing it."

"Just let's go. Oh, and next, do 'Unbreakable' by Fireflight," Vixen hissed. She crouched at the entrance and turned into a fox.

"WHOA. You can turn into a fox?" Jay asked, dumbfounded.

"Shut up, Jay!" Kai said, nudging the Ninja of Lightning. "Let's just hurry up and save them!"

"Um, I'm afraid you can't just barge in, Vix," Blitzen quipped uncertainly. "If I guessed correctly, there are 15,000 nightmares in there, and 150,000 Black Pearls, with 1,000,000,000 other Abyssal warriors. The walls and ceiling are made of radioactive plutonium and torbernite, dripping mercury, lead, nickel, chromium, yttrium, sulfur powder, coloradoite, thallium, hutchinsonite, asbestos, and cinnabar. All are toxic, with cinnabar being the worst. And the walls are made of mostly cinnabar, so that's why they're so red. Oh, and they're smeared in deadly Razormouth blood, so I'd advise you to not touch anything at all. Here are breathing masks for everyone, because the air is full of mercury vapor, sarin, cyanide, and botulinum. Oh, and there are cans of a poison called Zyklon B over there. Inhale it and you're dead in three seconds flat. Soul Taker is keeping Lloyd and Akira away from this because she wants them alive for torture."

"Um, okay. I did not need that speech," Cole stammered. "How'd you even get the gas masks here? Whatever. Let's hurry and get moving, guys!"

"Got it. How are we gonna get in unnoticed?" Kai asked.

"We won't. We'll need people who can disappear or turn invisible." At that they looked at Mr. Pale, Shade, and Hyperfang.

"Aw, man!" all three chimed at the same time. Nonetheless, they turned invisible. And as Hyperfang was literally immune to poisons (Anacondrai blood!), she didn't really need her gas mask. She just barged right in and tapped Lorris on the shoulder.

"WHO TOUCHED ME?!" Lorris screamed. "IF THIS IS PINKIE PIE, YOU SHOULDA USED THE FRONT ENTRANCE! I'M TRYING TO TEACH THESE TWO THE MER LANGUAGE!" Then she moved down and tried to sleep. In three minutes, she was lightly snoring.

Right now a tear-streaked Akira was leaning against Lloyd, who had wrapped his arms around her protectively. It felt good to be protected like this. So far, the only mer words they had learned were Matalin mer, as it was called. _Mērē dila, mērī ātmā_ , which meant _my heart, my soul_. If it was weird of Lorris to tell them that, it was even weirder when she said that those were the only words needed. **(In real life, it's actually Hindi for** ** _my heart, my soul._** **)**

Lorris wasn't actually sleeping. She put the violin up to her neck again, raised the bow, and played a long tone on both the D and A-String. Hyperfang slithered off from behind her and crept up to the pool of water, where two bloodmares were having a jolly time beating each other up and everyone else cheered like it was a gladiator fight.

She tasted the water. Hrmm… a mix of sodium, liquid helium, water, sugar, BLEACH, and rattlesnake venom. Ugh. Well, at least now she knew exactly what to say. Soul Taker just wanted to kill Akira slowly, and then after that, kill Lloyd in the same manner. And since Lorris had just randomly dropped in, she'd probably dunk the star spirit in a pot of the deadliest venom/poison/toxins ever found. There happened to be as much of it as the Great Devourer venom, but instead of making things like stone warriors come to life, it killed by the tiniest drop. Potent and fast-acting. You would be dead right on the spot.

As Hyperfang cautiously slithered to the entrance, a skellion caught her scent from above. "There's an intruder in here! Someone is interfering!"

Immediately the bloodmares left off attacking each other, and chaos ensued. Hyperfang tried as hard as she could to hold her mouth shut, but when she saw a stormcolt fly above her, she couldn't hold it in. "YAAAAHHHH! ATTACK AND DESTROY THIS PLACE AND FREE THE PRISONERS, MY MINIONS!"

"We don't appreciate you calling us minions," Kai called, "but as you wish! Let's bring this place down!"

All four shrieked, "NINJAAAAA-GOOO!" They attacked full force with Spinjitzu. The Elemental Masters followed in pursuit, using their special abilities to fight the evil. It was definitely tiring, but Kai managed to break the cage bars and free Lorris, Lloyd, and Akira.

"YAY! I'm free!" Lorris cheered. "Okay, let's get down to battle." With that, she spun into a pink-and-blue tornado. "THIS IS FOR EVERYTHING YOU'VE DONE TO THE REALMS!"

The battle scenes: all the nature (storm)-related elements—water, wind, lightning, ice, smoke—faced the stormcolts. The light-related elements—mostly energy, fire, and light—went against the bloodmares and original-evolution-ish nightmares. The elementals doing with mind and mind tricks—mind, form, speed, and shadow—faced sagemares and ghostmares. Elementals with the powers of physics, strength, and strength—metal, poison, earth, gravity—dealt with plaguemare and skellion attacks.

The NSG:

Dasher against, bloodmares, ghostmares, sagemares.

Dancer versus bloodmares, sagemares, plaguemares.

Prancer facing skellions, sagemares, stormcolts.

Vixen fighting plaguemares, ghostmares, nightmares.

Comet against bloodmares, sagemares, skellions.

Cupid versus all of them. (Well, he's love. He has to help everyone.)

Donner versus skellions, stormcolts, nightmares.

Blitzen against plaguemares, skellions, stormcolts.

Rudolph against bloodmares, sagemares, skellions, stormcolts.

Hyperfang using her Serpentine powers on all of them.

As for the Terrors, Nilla was calling in the finest plants. Giant Abyss-eating Venus flytraps, bone-dissolving pitcher plants, herbal plants that are a plaguemare's worst fear, and other plants. Lorris was using animal senses and calling in animal spirits to help.

The only one who was remaining to fight was Soul Taker.

Cupid noticed her walking to a platform to get something dangerous that won't be revealed yet, but it's one of the deadliest things ever. Worse than an atomic bomb. As soon as she picked it up and turned around, Cupid whipped out his golden longbow. He shot from his place fighting with Blitzen and landed in front of Soul Taker, cracking the ground. Everything stopped. **(Imagine "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly" theme song)**

Soul Taker's hooves were planted firmly on the ground; her jaw set it a tight line. She narrowed her pitch black, soulless eyes which reflected no light. They bore into the Love Doctor's clear blue gaze. "Move aside, Cupid Agapos."

"You'll have to kill me first, Soul Taker. No harm is coming to them," he said in a loud voice. Soul Taker just smiled; an icy, venomous smile. "Your wish is yours to keep."

"Uh, does that sound familiar?" Jay whispered fearfully, whimpering. Kai shrugged. "Not really, unless you're talking about the Nadakhan thing I don't really know anything about."

Well, time to show what the dangerous thing was. Basically it was the opposite of Cupid's bow and arrows. A long, ebony bow, arrows that always accurate, arrowheads covered in the most dangerous venom ever. The same venom as mentioned before (what Lorris would be dunked in).

From the crowd, Akira covered her mouth in horror and gasped. "The Abyssalisk Arrows! They don't even have to pierce you to kill you."

"You're fighting me with a golden bow and arrows? They don't stand a chance," Soul Taker sneered. "Remember that you've been here since the beginning of time, Cupid, and were born in the way you are now. You know how the Abyss was created, and how I was born from a father who named it after himself. The Abyssalisk. And my mother was his queen, a yellow-speckled vampire mare. Oh, right, I forgot that Bloodthirst was a preemimare."

"Did she just say 'preemimare'?" Cole whispered. Lorris winced. "Sorry, I forgot to talk about them. There are only eight of them, and each is the mother of a different nightmare evolution. Bloodthirst was the one who had Soul Taker. She's the worst."

Soul Taker continued speaking. "You were there at the time I challenged my father for the throne of the Abyss, when he was lazy and wouldn't make it expand to other places. Surely you know of how the battle went."

"Of course I know," Cupid spat, "You were standing there in your other form as a tall Alicorn, and you battled the Abyssalisk for the throne. I saw you conduct every torture, both imaginable and unimaginable, until you put one of those arrows through his head and dipped each one of them in his venom. Then declared war on Xanadu."

Soul Taker tsk-tsked. "That same thing will happen to you." She drew an arrow and launched it through the air with tremendous speed and force, and for a moment everyone thought Cupid was dead. Fortunately, he had drawn out his own arrow and destroyed Soul Taker's with it. "That all you got, Deathmare?"

The Deathmare seethed and let five arrows loose. Cupid used his own arrows to put stop them. It soon turned into an archery war. The arrows counteracted each other, evaporating into thin air. All this time, Soul Taker was hissing angrily and Cupid was merrily whistling "My Heart Will Go On" by Celine Dion _._ Soul Taker HATED that song.

Somehow it switched to a swordfight that took to the skies above the Dark Island.

"AAH! Watch it with the sparks!" Kai hissed as sparks flew from the swords that had MAGICALLY come out of nowhere.

"Says the Master of Fire," Cole mocked. "I thought you were supposed to like fire. What, are you scared of burning your hair?"

He was tackled immediately. "HEY! Sorry, I was just kidding! Besides, you still can't beat me at training!"

Surreptitiously, while no one was looking, Morro inched his sister over to Lloyd, who was standing a few feet away. Akira tensed, whispering, "What are you doing?" Morro glared. "Ahem, something! You don't wanna know! Just go over there!"

"Are you crazy?!"

"No, I'm not. Get over there next to him!"

"Are you saying that you want me to hide? I'm not a coward, and like I said, I can take care of myself!"

"AKIRA!" Surprised by that fierce whisper, Akira fell silent. "I'm not saying you're a coward. And you are not hiding. That's the exact opposite of what I'm trying to say!"

"Ugh! I don't know what you're talking about! Is this something important or what?" Akira snapped, recovered. Morro sighed. The NSG definitely hadn't told her anything that they told him. "Man, in all the years you've been with the NSG, they haven't told you, have they? I can't believe they trust me more than you."

"What?! What'd they tell you?"

"It's confidential. I know a lot more about you than you know yourself. And your real name isn't Mizu no Akira."

Wow, we love plot twists, don't we? Cupid heard that right away. So did Soul Taker, and it distracted her slightly, giving Cupid time to fly down to Hyperfang and get the stereo, fast as you please. "Soul Taker, I challenge you to a SONG BATTLE!"

"OOOH! This is gonna be good!" Nilla squealed. "Cupid's singing battles are super cool! And Soul Taker hates singing, but she never backs down. Won't this be fun?"

Soul Taker was seething even more. "How DARE you suggest such an outrageous thing! But I'll never back down from fights. Very well, Cupid. I accept your challenge!"

She sent a dark thing into the stereo, which was now suspended by itself in the air. Seven seconds later, loud heavy metal blared through the subwoofer. The song was something by Korn, Iron Butterfly, or Led Zeppelin. **(I don't listen to heavy metal.)**

Everyone cowered behind Hyperfang's stretchy hood, while she had threaded her tail through her ear (holes) to block out the sound. "YAAAAH! THIS IS ANNOYING!"

Well, the song ended thirty minutes later at 2:31 pm. Okay, that might've been seven songs. And the cheering Abyssals made a deafening noise.

A quite shaken Cupid sent an arrow to the stereo, which converted the song to "Phoenix Hearts" by We the Kings. It definitely sounded much better than whatever Soul Taker was singing.

 _Into the night we hold our breath_

 _Waiting for a sign_

 _So take my hand and close your eyes_

 _There's nothing left to hide_

(Pre-Chorus)

 _And oh, our angels soar,_

 _Ready for war,_

 _My heart is yours_

 _Lead this march for more_

 _The arrow flies, our eagles dies_

 _But our voices rise_

(Chorus)

 _Let's chase the sun into its grave,_

 _Our phoenix hearts are rising in flames_

 _Let's race the stars across the sky,_

 _And burn out names into the night_

 _Let's light up the night_

 _Let's light up the night_

 _Let's light up, let's light up, let's light up the night_

(Verse 2)

 _This shattered field of broken dreams_

 _Waiting for new life_

 _We glue our bones and find our hope,_

 _There's nothing left to hide_

(Pre-Chorus and Chorus)

 _You're a fighter, you know who you are, you won't run away_

 _So don't run away_

 _You are brave and you know you can take it_

 _Don't run away, so don't run away,_

 _If you fall I will be there to catch you_

 _And I will wait, yeah I will wait_

 _Can't you see that it's me?_

 _I'm the one that you will save,_

 _And I will save you too_

 _I will save you too_

 _I will save you_

(Chorus)

He received a standing ovation once he was finished; only it was much quieter because he didn't have an army or cheering nightmares on his side. But the song caused cool "graphics" that were actually real, like an amber-colored bubble blasting out and disintegrating a HUGE cloud of Black Pearls.

Comet threw his own mini meteorite at the stereo, which belted out "Happy" by Pharrell Williams. Nicely done, you scared a third of the remaining people away.

And then Hyperfang put in something that she got from Britain's Got Talent, a song written by a boy named Henry Gallagher for a girl he liked. And this wasn't just the tune of the song, but something Cupid was able to lip-sync. LINK: url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&ved=0ahUKEwiapM2dvZHVAhWDbD4KHTYFAeAQtwIIJjAA&url=https%3A%2F% .com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DEgMqiqdEeRE&usg=AFQjCNFak8soDUq_LDVZe2l8btlNEn3Azw

Such a beautiful song… it easily got rid of Soul Taker, who hated love songs. It also inspired Jay to try out something new. After all, lightning moved from one place to another, right? So maybe he could teleport everyone back to the cavern.

Concentrate… concentrate… nope, can't do. Blitzen noticed and rolled her eyes. "Seriously, just slam your hands together." She clapped her hooves together. BAM! Instantly everyone was back at the cave.

"How'd you do that?!" Jay screeched. Blitzen shrugged sheepishly. "I may have been the original Master of Lightning. Donner's the Thunder Master. After all, Donner and Blitzen mean Thunder and Lightning." **(They do.)**

Off to the side, Akira and Morro were still talking. "How come my name isn't Mizu no Akira? It always has been!"

"No, Akira, it hasn't. Mom and Dad just called you that to protect you from something only they knew about. They told me to keep your real name a secret."

"*sigh* Why does everyone keep secrets from me?"

"Because they have to. That's all."

"Were you always this cryptic?"

"Yeah, ever since the girl I loved married another guy."


	10. Unexpected (and CHEESY) Family Reunions

PFFFFFFFT! "WHAT DID YOU SAY?!" Kai screamed. Again, plot twist. I hate when it happens like this. Back to the story!

Morro sighed. "Yeah. It's another story."

"No, tell us! PLEASE?" Cole pleaded, eyes growing wide in a failed attempt to look adorable. Morro pushed him away. "Leave me alone."

"Dude, you know they'll find out anyway, right?" Hyperfang said, slithering up on a tail and not legs. She spat green venom onto the floor, and the pool of venom began showing pictures of a woman with sleek auburn hair and a long face. "This is Rebecca. She used to be one of the students at Sensei Wu's monastery before Morro moved in. When he did move in, they became very close friends. She left after he'd been there for two months, and since they were like the greatest BFFs of all time, Morro missed her."

"Hey, stop telling them the sensitive info!" Morro snapped. Hyperfang rolled her eyes. "Ask someone to empathize. You don't realize how many people know how you feel right now. Anyway, after Morro left Wu's monastery on the search for the Realm Crystal, both were thirteen. They ran into each other on the streets of old Jamanakai village."

The image in the pool wasn't like the Jamanakai village currently. It was a lot smaller and had more huts than houses. Now Cupid had taken over the story-telling. "So Morro stayed there for a while, and during that time, he realized something. It was a tug at his heart whenever he was with Rebecca. It's called love."

Jay instantly knew where this was headed. "Don't tell me she broke his heart!"

"Well, he never did say anything, and when they were 27, he was about to tell her. She beat him to it and said that she was getting married to her friend Conrad Monroe."

"What?! That's cruel!"

"What's even worse is that while his heart was breaking, he had to be best man."

Now Cole piped up. "Seriously?! You tell your best friend that you're marrying someone else and then you tell him that your fiancé wants him to be best man?! So that he can watch you be married to someone that's not him?!"

"Yeah," Morro growled. "I was mad at Conrad, but Rebecca gets to choose who she marries, so I let it go."

"Oh, deary me," Vixen trilled. "Your love was too noble, Morro. And when you were crying at that wedding, they all thought it was happiness, did they not?"

"Yeah. They did."

"OKAY, moving on!" Hyperfang roared. "You know, Rebecca and Conrad aren't a perfect couple. When I checked the Perfect Match Scale—actually authentic and useful, unlike Mr. Borg's machine—it rated Rebecca and Conrad at twenty. When I put Morro and Rebecca, it dinged at the top, number one hundred. So Rebecca was SUPPOSED to marry Morro, not the idiot."

"I tried to convince Rebecca to stop the wedding," Cupid sighed, "even shooting an arrow into her heart when she looked at Morro. It didn't work. She was too stubborn. And I can't force anyone to do anything."

Lorris: "While Morro kept searching for the Realm Crystal afterwards, we always saw him wake up with a heartbroken expression. *sigh* I happen to be VERY emotional, so basically I'd have some animals check on the married couple and the single guy, and everyone in the _Milleni Gazelle_ would always stare at me weirdly when I burst out bawling. I still do that sometimes. No, wait. ALL the time. The end!"

Blitzen: "HOLD UP! There's a lot more to this story than you expect. About one year after the wedding, someone was born. Rebecca remembered Morro—sort of—and decided to call her daughter Gale Jadeite Monroe. The only problem is that she had black hair, not brown or auburn, and a turquoise streak on the right side. So this meant that Gale wasn't Conrad's daughter."

"Knew it! She cheated on him!" Kai waved it off. "That woman is mean."

"No, no, no! She never cheated on him. But CUPID was interfering a LOT in some VERY odd ways. You might see a streak in anyone's hair, but only those with blood of the Hockley family have a streak on the right side, and always against black or very dark hair. The Hockleys mean Kodama and Savannah, mother and father of Akira and Morro, and their granddad Ashvin. Anyone who has that bloodline."

That's when it hit Akira. "Wait… you aren't saying that Gale is one of us, are you?"

Cupid: "We are. You can always tell by the bright color of the streak, and I can always tell if it's been dyed or not, because the Hockleys are all born with it. So now I'd like to say that she looked like Morro, she had most of his fierce personality, and she was not Gale Jadeite Monroe, but Gale Jadeite Hockley."

Lorris: "Here comes the hard part. Erhem. So. Morro, I don't know how to break this to you without getting anyone freaked out, but Gale's your daughter. When you died at thirty-five years old, she was seven. Now she's fourteen."

There was intense silence. The venom swirled to show a girl with long black hair tied in three braids (coming down from a bun), wearing a ninja gi. Her dark blue eyes were shining in delight, and a crooked grin on her face SCREAMED Morro-ness.

Cupid: "That's her. Morro was long dead when I came and told her about it. She set off to find him, but to no avail. Krux accidentally set a time spell on her that caused her to get frozen. She was only thirteen. But she woke up again when we all were in the Abyss trying to get Akira, Lloyd, and Lorris. Hyperfang found her when we got back."

Hyperfang: "We decided to keep it a secret until now. And Cupid's been leaving a trail of jade crystals that float in the air for her to follow. They're scattered all over."

Everyone was silent. Then Morro shook his head. "I need some time to think about this." He left the grotto, using a different exit near the back.

"Uh, hello?" a very unfamiliar voice that sounded 13-15 floated in through the front entrance. It was a _tall_ girl that looked exactly like the one in the picture, except for the face. She didn't have that crooked brightness. Her face looked more tentative, with a shaky smile.

Cupid flew over, coaxing her forward with one hoof. "Ah, my guest is here. Come on over. Before I show you who you're looking for, how about you let the Elemental Masters know who you are?"

"Wait, don't tell me!" Jay exclaimed. "I think I know! Is it Gale Jadeite Monroe? Tell me I'm right!"

The girl frowned at him. "I am not a Monroe! I am Gale Jadeite Hockley, and I'm nothing other than that! Even if I don't have an Elemental Power!"

Behind her, the Elemental Masters gasped loudly. Prancer shushed them. "Tone it down, half-witted clodhoppers! That hurts mah ears, ya know!"

"Gale… you don't happen to be my brother's daughter, do you?" Akira stammered. Gale blinked. "If you're my aunt Phoenix, then yeah. No, wait, I meant to say Akira! Sorry!"

PHOENIX?! "Did someone say Phoenix?" Morro asked, reentering from the front. He broke off and sharply inhaled, frozen to his spot. Gale whipped around and looked at him closely. To her eyes, he looked just like the man Cupid had showed her in a pool of venom from Hyperfang. Now, cue an intense silence.

Quietly, Vixen and Cupid ushered everyone but—ahem—er, father and daughter out, whispering, "Let's leave these two some alone time to bond."

A long but not awkward silence passed. Gale opened her mouth to say something, but no words came out. Morro's head was pounding with these thoughts: _It's her. It's really her. The daughter I never knew about. How did this even happen?_

A sneak into Gale's thoughts revealed, _My real father—will he even love me?_ Two very different thoughts, aren't they? Well, Morro finally summed up the courage to speak. "Gale? Is it—is it really?"

Gale remembered hearing that voice before, somewhere in her subconscious. "Y-y-you're Morro… my father…"

Before anyone could blink, she was across the room and openly crying onto Morro's shoulder as they tightly embraced. (It's sort of like military family reunions.)

Outside, there was also some of Cupid's interfering. Akira was standing with Lloyd next to the entrance of the cave while everyone else picked around. She wondered aloud, "She called me Phoenix… that's not my name, is it?"

Lloyd shrugged. "I don't know. But I'm happy that Morro's met his daughter."

Akira suddenly got nervous. Heartbeat? Starting to race. Body temperature? Getting warmer. Face color? Blushing. Thoughts? Wishing, yet thinking "forever alone." She anxiously stepped away from him.

Inside, Gale was wrapped tightly in Morro's strong hold. "C-Cupid told me everything about you! And Mother married someone else… *hic* but you forgave her."

Morro slowly broke from the embrace and put his hands on her shoulders. "She was happy with him. Hey, when Cupid told you everything, did he say…"

Yes, he did. Yes, he talked about releasing the Preeminent and the Cursed Realm (that was when she woke up again) and how Morro wasn't the Green Ninja. Yes, he talked about EVERYTHING.

Gale nodded. She whispered in a nearly inaudible tone of voice, "Yeah, everything. But it doesn't matter now, because you're here with me now. That's why I came to look for you."

Morro brought his hand to the side of Gale's face and smiled. "All these years, and I never even knew. You're the most faithful and determined person I've ever seen. Thank you for finding me, my little Gale." He wrapped her in a hug again.

Outside: Cupid, Lorris, Hyperfang, Vixen, and Rudolph openly weeping. Everyone else staring in confusion, agreement, or scoffing.

"Man, I am so sappy," Lorris choked as she wrung out her soaked handkerchief for the fifteenth time. "This is what happens when you're emotional."

Blitzen left off and stuttered out, "Wh-why is this so good! I wish that I knew what to do now! WHAT TO DO?! We can go in, and they can hear us, but what do we do next?! I can't think straight, for Ninjago's sake!"

"Well, we can always go and fight the villains, who INTERRUPT EVERYTHING," Hyperfang roared. "LIKE THEY ARE DOING RIGHT NOW! COME OUT, SAGEMARES AND PLAGUEMARES!"

She whipped off and conjured a motorcycle from thin air. Here we go again.

While she was beating them back, Lorris nudged Cupid. "What was with the 'Slytherin Dragon' couple holding hands, huh?! That was so random! And…" She double face-pawed. "You have miserably killed me."

Hyperfang hopped back up again. "Okay, I'm done. Wait. Where's that smoke coming from?" Look to the horizon. In the direction of Ninjago.

"Oh, dear me, we have to go back and see what's wrong!" Vixen barked.

"Yeah, well, about that, Soul Taker has scouts all over the Dark Island, so she'll follow us and wreak havoc," Rudolph pointed out.

"What about tunneling, then?" Comet- suggested.

"Eh, that might take awhile," Dancer shrugged. "Unless, of course, we have a hacker into the ground." He looked at Cole, then Donner, then Hyperfang.

"SERIOUSLY! Stop looking at me!" Hyperfang yelled. "Yeah, I know that I can tunnel like the Constrictai and Donner can make a whole canyon with his thunderclaps and Cole's Master of Earth, but why always me?"

"Just do it before I electrocute everyone out of panic!" Blitzen yelped, her fur fizzing with static electricity. Lightning bolts shot down from the sky, accompanied by huge booms of thunder. They struck nearby trees.

"Fine. But let's hurry," Donner rolled his eyes. He stomped one hoof into the ground and made a fine pothole. Another one; the first five hundred feet of a tunnel. Hyperfang and Cole then dove in.

Thankfully, they were done in thirty minutes because Jay was almost as panicked as Blitzen and was about to electrocute whoever he touched. "Oh my gosh! When will we hurry? What the heck will happen if we don't will Ninjago be safe? Why are you two holding hands? STOP HOLDING HANDS! What's your favorite color? Why am I here? Are you a pizza? What's going on?! HEEELP!"

"CALM DOWN AND GET INTO THE TUNNEL!" Donner boomed above the panic, throwing Jay halfway down the length of the tunnel with extreme superstrength.

"I don't know how you guys manage to do this, but now our lives are a jigsaw puzzle that's been scattered everywhere. I don't understand a thing. Is this even a real storyline?" Kai asked. It was because everything had happened just too suddenly over the course of the last four weeks.

"Scatterbrained already?" Prancer drawled. "Try living with us for a year. You'll be thrown all over the place if you're don't get used to it. Now GIT! Into the tunnel, people, and camouflage us, Hypes! I need to find out why someone is making catgut over there."

Once all the Elemental Masters were in, along with Gale who didn't possess the powers, the NSG and Twin Terrors flooded in. Dasher and Comet instantly zapped up a wall to cover the entrance to the tunnel. They got to Ninjago first, took a quick look around, and raced back and brought everyone to see what they had seen. (One reason why it was so crazy: Dasher and Comet were too fast.)

Oh, what horror! It was a mess! While everyone had been busy on the Dark Island, the rest of the Abyssal Legions had swarmed Ninjago and its people, choking them up with dark matter and shifting the balance! Even the _Destiny's Bounty_ had been turned to the _Black Bounty_ , and Misako was now Evil Misako with purple eyes.

Even Dareth was affected. Yes, the old Dareth who loved puffy pot stickers and impersonating Elvis Presley was gone. Now he was Dareth the Malicious.

"This is bad. Soul Taker created a trap so that we would be lured away from Ninjago?! She trapped us on the Dark Island only to stop us from getting back here!" Jay screamed. "WHY!"

Dareth the Malicious saw him. "Oh, hello there, ninja. I see that you come to enjoy my party of doom." He shoved Zane into a smelting furnace.

"YAAAH!" Zane roared as the fire licked at his feet.

"Zane! Use your ice!" Cole called from outside.

"I can't when my system is overheating!"

"WHAT? ARE YOU KIDDING?"

"If my body temperature gets raised too high, then my ice powers won't work! It's too hot in here!"

"Oh, for the love of Twilight Sparkle," Nilla facepawed. People looked at her. "What? I'm a brony. Who cares? Doesn't Skylor have his power anyway?"

"Oh, yeah! She does!" Jay exclaimed. From somewhere around the place, Skylor hopped from a rabid civilian and iced the furnace. Zane walked out, parts of his titanium body caked in black.

"Ooh, that looks bad. Good thing I've brought this with me," Blitzen quipped. She poured some cleaner fluid on a rag and cleaned him up nicely. "There. Now we're good, so—WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?!" she hollered, scared out of her fur by a hulking, menacing Razormouth queen known as Hagarla.

"Oh My Little Pony," Nilla sighed. "AVAST YE, HAGARLA! PEOPLE, SPREAD OUT AND ATTACK WITH YOUR POWERS!" She forced Hagarla away with a super-mutant pitcher plant.

The Elemental Masters joined in with a war cry and hopped into battle against an onslaught of citizens.

"How do we defeat them without hurting them?!" Turner shouted to Lorris.

"ASK THE SERPENTINE!" she shot back. "I'LL GET THEM!"

 _FWEEET!_ Off went the whistle, and in moments the Venomari and Fangpyre appeared, followed by the Constrictai and Hypnobrai.

" _Ssssssssstttttttttt!_ Ssssserpentine, attack!" Skales hissed. The Serpentine raced to help the Elemental Masters get all the people of New Ninjago City into one big group in the middle of the city. There, Hyperfang chanted a very old, very ancient Anacondrai spell to raise an unbreakable dome over the infected people.

"There, that should be enough for now. Thanks for coming here, Serpentine," Hyperfang nodded. Skales dipped his head to her. "We sssshall alwaysss be at your sssservice, Your Highnessssss."

Lorris whistled again, calling in a dragon of the desert. "If any of them try to escape, feel free to sting them just enough to paralyze them for a few hours. Got it, boy?"

The dragon nodded in response, his venomous barbed tail raised above his head. Lorris patted his snout. "Good boy, Summer. Oh, and call in the Ultra Dragon if you ever need help."

She screeched like an eagle, a bright fiery substance flying out of her mouth and bringing everyone to the Temple of Airjitzu to rest for at least a day to recollect themselves and eat more of Prancer's delicious cooking. Morro and Gale were chatting away like they'd been with each other their whole lives. The six ninja were on the newly installed training course again, the rest of the Elementals were exploring the place, and Akira was sitting to the side.

Back at the Dark Island in her chamber underneath the Celestial Clock, Soul Taker smirked. Her plan was working perfectly. "They don't even know what they're in for. Tomorrow, we lure them and attack at the Golden Peaks. Arrange the troops for an ambush, Darkheart."

"As you wish, Soul Taker," Darkheart, the bloodmare Grand Vizier, hissed. "We will have them before they even know a thing."

She left, and immediately a preemimare trotted in. Soul Taker acknowledged her, turning into her other (real-life-ish) form like the preemimare. "Mother."

"Hello, Soul Taker," Bloodthirst hissed with a Transylvanian accent.

"What do you need here?"

"What I want is for you to stop slacking. You are already behind on a multitude of projects. When you attack tomorrow, you must make sure to get all of them down before it becomes chaos."

"Of course. Of course."

"You must attack with as much force as you used when you killed your father, otherwise it will never succeed. Your arrows need more poison in them."

"Yes. Of course." Soul Taker looked away, scheming. Her mother Bloodthirst was right, but still, the preemimares couldn't just watch from a distance instead of fight. This would be a genius plan. "And now, _Mother dear_ , I have a little project for the preemimares to work on. Do tell them about it…"

* * *

 **An author's note to all viewers: I just made up the last name for Morro's family. Please don't judge.**

 **Okay, cliffhangers are always creepy, especially if they leave off with a villain, but mostly when someone's about to die. Which will happen soon. Not necessarily next chapter, though.**

 **Lorris the Terror, signing out!**

 ** _~LorristheTerror~_**


	11. Prophecy

Dusk approached to the very blurry day, and peaceful, soothing rain fell over Ninjago. The nightmares hid from this and went back to the Dark Island to plot, and Summer was switched with a sea dragon named Cuttlefish. Nya wandered over to where Neuro, Ash, and Skylor were looking over a scroll. "What's that?"

"It's some sort of prophecy concerning the sun and moon," Skylor said. "I can't really understand anything except for the words sun and moon, because it's in a mystic language. We're trying to figure out what it says."

"Did you say there's a prophecy? What does it say?" Cole asked as he and Zane walked over.

"We can't read it," Neuro pointed out. "It's in a mystic language."

Inside Zane's head, P.I.X.A.L. scanned the scroll. _"It's in the language of the Xan, which has been a puzzle to many of the realms because no one can decode it. Not even I know what it says. Only star spirits and Xan spirits have been able to read it."_

"I can't read it, and even P.I.X.A.L. says it's not decodable," Zane told them. "Only the Xan and stars can read it."

"Well then, where would we find star spirits?" Cole asked. "They're nowhere around here."

"Um, well, yes they are, Cole," Neuro retorted. "Did you forget the Twin Terrors? They brought us to the Town of Zephyrus, remember?"

"Wha—oh, yeah! I can't believe I forgot!"

"Well, we can ask them what it says, then," Skylor stated.

"And hopefully we'll be able to figure out everything, because it looks like it has a lot of metaphors and double meanings," Nya suggested. They brought it over to Nilla, who was talking to a few daisies (yes, daisies can talk to her). She looked up as she saw them. "Oh, hi guys! What's the matter?"

"We found a prophecy in Xan, and since you're a star spirit, we figures you could read it," Cole said, handing the scroll to her. She peered at it and read aloud:

 _"_ _Sun, moon, and stars,_

 _They say opposites attract._

 _The yang, daylight, and the yin, nightlight._

 _He is the sun, the yang, the dragon._

 _She is the moon, the yin, the phoenix._

 _Dragon's Blood and Phoenix Heart,_

 _They shall drive away the dark._

 _Love will be their guide._

 _Never shall they part._

 _But a test will come to challenge this love._

 _When the arrow flies, tragedy befall them._

 _One will die from the deadly poison,_

 _Dark enough to vanquish the love._

 _If they overcome this obstacle,_

 _Ever faithful, loyal, and true,_

 _The powers of sun and moon_

 _Will be bestowed upon them._

 _If they succeed and pass this trial,_

 _Nothing will be able to stop them._

"Why is this sounding like it's a love poem talking about two star-crossed lovers hanging out and one gets killed and the other promises to love them forever?" Nilla yodeled into the paper. "Why are you soothsayers so weird?"

She grabbed a pen from a pack attached to her cloth belt, writing the translation on the back of the paper. She shoved it into Zane's hands. "Take it to Lorris, she knows more about romanticity and cupidity than me."

"Uh… okay…" Skylor slowly crunched out. They found Lorris writing in a book. She looked up. "Why do you have that scroll with you? It's my personal copy of the Prophecy of Sun and Moon. Huh, must have fallen out of my pocket. And I see that Nilla's already translated it for you, right? I can recognize her handwriting on the back."

"Yeah, that's what happened," Nya said. "She can't explain it so she said to take it to you."

"Well, you guys must already know that the people in here are a boy and a girl who are like yin and yang. Their destinies are entwined, and they're meant for each other. But something known as Soul Taker will try and come between them and kill them with the Abyssalisk Arrows. That's the test that will try to destroy them and their love for each other. Everything revolves around love, guys. Don't ask. As for the part when they stay faithful and true, that basically means if they won't ever forsake the other, they'll receive special powers and they'll be inseparable. That's only a rough explanation, because my whole explanation would take up a whole hour."

"Man, this has really gotten weird," Skylor shook her head as the group left.

"Who even are the two people?" Cole asked.

"That's something that is yet to be discovered," Zane replied. "We have to be patient and watch for signs."

"Maybe it's someone in this group right now. We should make a list—what's that sound?" Nya asked.

They looked to where Cupid was whistling a mournful tune and whittling. But that wasn't the source of the sound because someone else was whistling.

Who?

Where?

"Don't look at me! I'm not doing anything!" Cupid called as they stared. "You see who has the stereo over there?" Akira was sitting on a particularly large piece of rubble outside, holding the stereo next to her. She was soaked from head to toe in the rain.

"Hey, what are you doing out here, eh? You're gonna catch hypothermia, darl," Prancer whinnied, flying out from her work area.

"Nothing. Just thinking," Akira sighed.

"Oh, really? Well then, this is worse than the Dust Bowl back in the 30's. Lemme guess—it's that boy again."

"*sigh* Yeah. He doesn't see me the way I see him."

"Are you sure about that, cowgirl?"

"Please, just leave me be. I can't think straight anymore."

"Oh, well, okay, if that's the way ya want it," Prancer shrugged, walking back inside to the kitchen area. "Kids these days. They don't know the difference between flirtin' and gettin' truly twittered."

Akira stared off into space, looking forlorn. What Neuro heard in her thoughts: _I don't think I'm even worth it. Yeah, I know that Lorris told me to go out with him one someday, but he doesn't look at me like he would if it were in that case. Even when he went to rescue me. He just doesn't want anyone to fall to the Abyss._

By now Neuro knew exactly who she meant. And as he had already been sworn to secrecy on this matter, he couldn't say a word. But he thought that he'd won the bet between him and Lorris. So they weren't a match after all! 50 bucks are owed!

Lorris seemed to know exactly what he was thinking and glared daggers at him. "Not a chance you're winning this bet," she muttered under her breath, turning back to her notebook and scribbling what's in the parentheses. _(In about five seconds Akira will start singing "On My Own" from_ Les Misérables. _See? She just started. Soon, Neuro, I KNOW you're gonna lose this. It's scientifically proven by the night dragons that live in Cloud Kingdom and see into the future.)_

Indeed, her prediction was right. The reason why Akira began singing it was because she was absolutely twitterpated, but she felt like Éponine from the play, who Marius rejected.

 _"_ _And now I'm all alone again nowhere to turn, no one to go to_

 _Without a home without a friend without a face to say hello to_

 _And now the night is near_

 _Now I can make believe he's here_

 _Sometimes I walk alone at night_

 _When everybody else is sleeping_

 _I think of him and then I'm happy_

 _With the company I'm keeping_

 _The city goes to bed_

 _And I can live inside my head_

 _On my own_

 _Pretending he's beside me_

 _All alone_

 _I walk with him 'til morning_

 _Without him_

 _I feel his arms around me_

 _And when I lose my way I close my eyes_

 _And he has found me_

 _In the rain the pavement shines like silver_

 _All the lights are misty in the river_

 _In the darkness, the trees are full of starlight_

 _And all I see is me and him forever and ever_

 _And I know it's only in my mind_

 _That I'm talking to myself and not to him_

 _And although I know that he is blind_

 _Still I say, there's a way for us_

 _I love him_

 _But when the night is over_

 _He is gone_

 _The river's just a river_

 _Without him_

 _The world around me changes_

 _The trees are bare and everywhere_

 _The streets are full of strangers_

 _I love him_

 _But every day I'm learning_

 _All my life_

 _I've only been pretending_

 _Without me_

 _His world would go on turning_

 _A world full of happiness_

 _That I have never known_

 _I love him_

 _I love him_

 _I love him_

 _But only on my own."_

Cupid watched from the very top of the pagoda and face-hoofed. "Seriously? Singing that song in the rain? While you don't even know if it's true or not? Oh, hey, and look! Your Cape Verde over there thought that you were talking about some blind guy or an old childhood friend, which you never had any! What is this nonsense?!" he whispered furiously, not caring if anyone heard or not.

Indeed, our friend Cape Verde aka Lloyd had heard the whole thing and had gotten the wrong meaning, thinking that she meant someone else. Well, mostly because he was practically her neighbor, and the other guy must be somewhere far away.

Lloyd was extremely hurt and angry. He walked upstairs and sat underneath a windowsill, brooding. _I can't believe I even thought I'd have a chance with her. That prophecy or whatever is all wrong._

Lorris smelled the sadness wafting past her nose wither super-sniffer nose, so she jumped up and started pacing and creating a note. The first person she brought it to was Akira, outside. "Excuse me, Akira. If you would please fill out this piece of paper?" she requested, passing the paper and her pen.

1) Name the person on your mind.  .

2) Do you like them? Yes_ No _

3) Write the name of the person who you are in love with. . .

4) If they were in danger of being killed by Soul Taker, with only a few seconds to spare before her arrow hits their heart, what would you do? (put a line through the one you choose)

a) Fight Soul Taker

b) Find a way to snatch them out of their prison

c) Jump in the line of fire and sacrifice your life for the beloved

d) Watch from the sidelines and grieve

e) Commit suicide (NOT RECOMMENDED AT ALL)

5) Would you rather die alone or die with them at your side? . .

6) Please sign your name of the line below to verify this survey as completed.

.

"What exactly is this for?" Akira asked suspiciously. Lorris didn't shrug this time like usually did when casually answering a question. "This is an urgent quiz. It's clear that you don't see the prophecy clearly, and you're the one who's blind to this kind of twitterpation I see flying around in the air, so you should take a look at this. Hurry."

So Akira did the quiz.

 _1)_ Name the person on your mind. _Lloyd Garmadon_

2) Do you like them? Yes No_

3) Write the name of the person who you are in love with.

 _Lloyd Garmadon._

4) If they were in danger of being killed by Soul Taker, with only a few seconds to spare before her arrow hits their heart, what would you do? (put a line through the one you choose)

a. Fight Soul Taker

b. Find a way to snatch them out of their prison

c. Jump in the line of fire and sacrifice your life for the beloved

d. Watch from the sidelines and grieve

e. Commit suicide (NOT RECOMMENDED AT ALL)

5) Would you rather die alone or die with them at your side?

 _I'd rather die with him by my side than wallow in death alone. ._

6) Please sign your name of the line below to verify this survey as completed.

 _Mizu no Akira Hockley_ .

"Okay, with that out of the way, have a good night. It's about nine-thirty pm," Lorris quipped curtly as she trotted back in. Akira reluctantly followed behind.

Now, dear Lorris had another copy of the survey, and she passed it to Lloyd up stairs, not waiting for him to say anything. "Do this quiz. It's extremely urgent. Don't skip anything because this stuff could decide your fate. Well, it can't but it will make its way into forming your fate once I notify Cupid."

1) Name the person on your mind. _Mizu no Akira Hockley_

2) Do you like them? Yes No _

3) Write the name of the person who you are in love with.  . _Mizu no Akira Hockley._

4) If they were in danger of being killed by Soul Taker, with only a few seconds to spare before her arrow hits their heart, what would you do? (put a line through the one you choose)

a. Fight Soul Taker

b. Find a way to snatch them out of their prison

c. Jump in the line of fire and sacrifice your life for the beloved

d. Watch from the sidelines and grieve

e. Commit suicide (NOT RECOMMENDED AT ALL)

 _5)_ Would you rather die alone or die with them at your side? _I'd be with her forever, even if she doesn't love me._ _._

f. Please sign your name of the line below to verify this survey as completed.

Lloyd M Garmadon .

"Thank you very much, I will be going now," Lorris meowed as she got the paper back. "Get ready for an onslaught of nightmares attacking any minute. You must have constant vigilance. What did I just say? Never mind. Good night to all!"

Most of the Elemental Masters went to bed in a large room, with Skylor, Ash, Gravis, Karlof, Tox, Camille, Kai, and Jay staying up to explore around the place. Lorris and Nilla stayed up talking to each other.

In the meantime, Cole was wandering around the Temple, noting how some parts had changed and some places stayed the same. The library was weirdest. Every scroll had somehow managed to stay preserved for over who-knows-how-many years. And lots of them were written in Xan.

"…and then he's like, 'Hey, look! It's a butterfly!' and I was like, 'Dude, there are butterflies everywhere.' I mean, like, seriously, it was sort of funny how it all worked out, but still," voices said from the hall. Tox and Camille sauntered into the library, chatting away. They briefly greeted Cole and went to a shelf of scrolls. Tox snorted. "Seriously, this is a bunch of scribble-scrabble."

"Who even needs this stuff, anyway?" Camille drawled, opening one and skimming her eyes over it. She got ready to toss it, and that's when Cole noticed the tiny gleam coming from a part of it.

"Wait! Camille! Don't throw it yet!" he yelled, racing over and opening the scroll to its full length. It spanned all the way to the door, and when it completely unraveled, there were two necklaces at the end. One was silver, with a phoenix on it. The other was gold with a _lung_ dragon on it. (A _lung_ dragon, of course, has a long body and doesn't use wings to fly.)

"Ooh, shiny jewelry," Tox mumbled, picking up both of them.

"Why a phoenix and a dragon, anyway?" Camille inquired.

"Dunno. Maybe some weirdo just liked those animals," Tox replied. Cole remained silent and peered closely at the two images. There was something familiar, but he couldn't put his finger on it. The dragon had a tiny red ruby over where its heart would be. It looked like blood. The phoenix had a small, bright green emerald heart on its chest. _Argh, come on, Cole! You know there's something!_

Then it clicked. The prophecy. _Dragon's Blood and Phoenix Heart…_ That's it! Cole quickly grabbed the necklaces form Tox, yelling, "Sorry, I need to take these for a quick inspection!" and he raced around the Airjitzu Temple until he found the NSG huddled together in a circle on the top floor, sitting at a round table. They looked up.

"Hi, Cole! What do you need?" Vixen asked. He dropped the necklaces on the table. "I think these have something to do with the prophecy."

"The prophecy…" Blitzen mused. "Heyyyyyyyy, hang on. Do you mean the Prophecy of Sun and Moon?"

"Uh, yeah, the Terrors explained it to Neuro, Skylor, Ash, Nya, Zane, and me," Cole stammered.

"Corpus bones. I told her not to let her scroll out of her sight," Vixen trilled. "Well, never mind. Let's take a look at this."

"I think it's Dragon's Blood and Phoenix Heart," Cole said.

"You're right, it is," Hyperfang told him. "These two are special amulets created extremely carefully by the Xan stars, or the beings that have both Xan and star powers. This tiny ruby, obviously, is the blood that will be shed by the dragon for the phoenix. This phoenix will then give her emerald heart to the dragon, because he has won her. I say the phoenix is a she because the yin is the female element and symbolized by the phoenix while the yang is the male element and symbolized by the dragon."

"What were the code names we had for them again?" Rudolph asked.

"Dragonyx and Phoenicia," Cupid replied. (Phoenicia = foo-NEE-sha.) "In reality, those are their honorary titles, even though the word Phoenicia was the name of a place in one of the other realms."

"I like to think of it as Slytherin and Gryffindor from Harry Potter," Prancer nickered. "Ya see? One's Slytherin colors, silver n' green, and the other's Gryffindor colors, red n' gold. It's those two rival houses, suddenly hooked together."

"Well, I'm trying to figure out who to give these to," Cole said. "I was hoping you guys knew who they were."

They all blinked twice in sync, looked at each other in sync, and nodded three times in sync.

"We usually don't spare ANY of this info to ANYONE, but since we trust you not to spill a single thing unlike your friends, you are to swear never to tell anyone until all of this has passed. Do you understand, soldier?" Blitzen snarled. Cole nodded determinedly, saying "Yes" without any wavering.

"Good. Well, Lloyd's actually gonna be Dragonyx, and Akira's gonna be Phoenicia. You know how we found the name Mizu no Akira for her? Well, we know—and so do Morro and the Terrors—that her real name is actually Phoenix Hope Akira."

"So that's why Gale called her Aunt Phoenix!" Cole gasped.

"Exactly. Well, we don't know exactly what happens next, but based on the nightmare that was revealed in the Town of Zephyrus, Lloyd's gonna be the one who dies by the Abyssalisk Arrow by sacrificing his life, and if they do something about the loyalty part of the prophecy, he'll be revived and they will receive the powers of the sun and moon from the Xan."

"Also, Lorris told us that all the ninja will raise families," Prancer added. "This means that someday, all of you will get married to someone, so about your future family…" she broke off laughing.

"I did not need that spoiler," Cole remarked, frowning.

"Yeah, anyway," Dancer snorted, "don't give the amulets to them. They're gonna find those themselves when the time comes. And keep your mouth zipped about this."

"Okay."

He walked downstairs, bumping into a frantic Jay. "OW! Jay, what was that for?!"

"Sorry, Cole! But something bad happened downstairs and somehow someone impaled themselves on a stake!" Jay wailed.

"WHAT?!"

"Don't worry, Gravis didn't hit any vital organs, it only pierced his right shoulder. But he can't get it out, and we need a medic ASAP! I don't know anyone who can help!"

"Did someone say that someone was impaled on a stake?!" Blitzen shrieked, flying up to them with a doctor's coat on and a medical kit. "Get me to him right away!"

Along the way, Jay wheezed, "You're a medic?"

"Yeah, I am. Do you not see how I look right now? And why do you think I always have a stethoscope with me?" Blitzen scoffed, pointing to the stethoscope hung around her neck.

"Yeah, I was wondering about that thong," Cole commented. They landed at the scene of the crime. Gravis was being supported by Karlof on his left, the pointed stake on his right shoulder smeared in blood. Blitzen quickly flew up and carefully inspected his injured arm. "Oh, great Hippocrates. THIS is why I got a PhD and a medical degree. Gravis, your collarbone is shattered, and the socket connecting to your arm has broken in two. That stake has gone all the way through, and around five inches are jutting out of your back. I am gonna have to do some delicate surgery here."

"Do you even know how to perform surgery?" Skylor asked. Blitzen glared. "Ahem! Did you not hear me mention my medical degree? Don't question me." She hoisted Gravis up, taking him from Karlof, and marched into an empty room with Donner, Hyperfang and Rudolph.

"How many doctoral careers does she have?" Kai asked. Nilla thought for a moment. "Well, she's a surgeon in all different kinds of surgery like heart surgery and brain surgery, she's a pediatrician, obstetrician, alchemist, microbiologist, dentist, ENT specialist, geologist, biologist, physicist, inventor, etcetera, meaning she has a lot of things she specializes in. And they're all in the fields of science or the doctoral field."

A grunt of pain was heard through the door. Ash peeked in. "She just removed the stake, now she's giving him the anesthesia. Hyperfang just coughed up a bed and X-ray."

"Yikes, that sounds bad," Cole winced.

"At least it's not as bad as shattering ten ribs in battle," Lorris remarked. "I'm glad that didn't happen."

"Why'd you say shattering ten ribs?" Shade inquired.

"Because it happened to me once when I took on a few skellions in an ambush. They broke six ribs on my right and four on my left. Plus, they dislocated my shoulder, tore a hole in my left hind leg, sprained all four paws, and pulled a bone through the skin. Blitzen had to change the gauze every hour."

"Okay, don't give us anymore details, please! You're making me lose my lunch!" Kai choked. Lorris shrugged. "Sorry, just glad none of your suffered my troubles."

"Great Queen Greatness! It cut into five arteries!" Blitzen squealed in a muffled voice through the door. "I need an emergency blood bank!"

"What's his blood type?" Hyperfang asked.

(Blood type is random) "Type A! Get me five pints! And find a container of white blood cells and platelets, too, to help fight off infection!"

"*HAAAACK* There you go!"

"And get me a thread and needles, because parts of the skin need stitches!"

"TONE DOWN! Now those comments are hurtin' mah ears," Prancer whinnied.

Everyone agreed. Well, mostly everyone. Lorris strutted into the operation room to hear more of the talk.

"Get a mask if you want to stay in here, Lorr. We don't want the patient to get infected," Dasher stated.

Long hours passed. Everyone outside the room fell asleep. Finally, at about 12:30 am, the surgery was finished and Gravis patched up. He woke up flinching. "Ow—did—you get—"

"Don't worry, your arm's fine. Let's get you onto a mat, and you can rest there," Hyperfang reassured him. The quickly moved him to the large room and placed him down on a mat.

Let's take a break and go into what the nightmares were doing. Instead of their usual chaos and gladiator fights, they directed their attention on forming different troops to be strategically placed around the Golden Peaks for the next day. Bloodthirst had informed the preemimares of Soul Taker's plan, and all of them sharpened their teeth for the harvest of new blood.

Soul Taker was in her upright form, her eyes sweeping over her army. Now all the plans would settle. The Nightmares would be attacking in dreams tonight, reminding the enemy of their greatest fears and hindering them useless, wary to attack. In the meantime, she herself would be out, upgrading her arrows with a poison even more deadly than the Abyssalisk venom. It would come from the depths of the heart of evil, the hearts of the dragons of darkness, the nightmare "evolutions," the Abyssal Legions.

This poison was from her.

 _Watch out, ninja. After I destroy this realm, like I have done to Djinjago and several others, this universe will bow to my control. You cannot stop me. Not even the prophecy will work anymore._

* * *

 **WHAT WITH THE WIERDNESS!**

 **This is Lorris the Terror, reporting that my stories are eternally weird.**


	12. Strange Life

Breakfast was served at 7 am, chocolate babka slices and pancakes with birch syrup instead of maple syrup. There was water, milk, apple juice, and coffee for beverages. And, of course, tea.

Most enjoyed the breakfast, even Gravis with the bandaged arm. Not others. Those who couldn't enjoy Prancer's cooking at the moment had a horrible feeling of dread in the pit of their stomachs (well, more like their bowels.)

"What's the matter, sister?" Nilla asked as she held the tissue box for her sneezing sister. Lorris looked up after blowing her nose, eyes red. "Something bad is gonna happen today."

"Whoa, chill, dude!" Dancer yapped as Hyperfang spat fear venom everywhere, in a hyper panic.

"My heart bleeds out of its place today!" Cupid groaned. Usually he never did that, so everyone knew it was bad. He was shedding fur. His antlers were cracking. His hooves shook. His ears flicked every which way.

"MMMRROWWW, I CAN'T TAKE IT ANYMORE!" Cupid finally screamed, flying out into the morning sunshine. "Wait a minute. I forgot to do something."

He flew back inside and slumped on the desk in the library, the one which used to belong to Sensei Yang. He started scribbling a list for Vixen on it.

"I have a feeling I know what's going on," Cole whispered to Kai. "But whatever happens today is all probably death."

"Suddenly Vixen started looking miserable, too. "Dracula, the son of the dragon, shall go killdeer today. Corpus bones."

Since no one knew what she was talking about, they went on chattering. Lorris suddenly stopped sneezing, stopped eating, stopped doing anything except breathing. She was stiller than a statue.

"Um, Lorr? HELLO! Are you looking at me?!" Nilla demanded, waving her paws in front of her sister's eyes. They went blank and turned away. "Death. Everywhere."

"Death?"

"Shadowland."

"Are you talking about the place where you play at Shadowland? Or the song from _The Lion King_ on Broadway, which I know nothing about?"

" _Mamela."_

"What does 'mamela' mean?!"

"It means 'listen' Swahili. You have to stay silent and listen."

"What are you talking about?!"

"Just listen to the song of the breeze."

"Okay, whatever Your Weirdness wants."

Lorris kept on staying silent and unmoving, not paying attention to anyone trying to bring her back to earth. She was too caught up in what she was doing, which was listening to something no one else could hear.

Zane finally decided to ice parts of her up after prompting from the others. She yelped and growled, "WHAT WAS THAT FOR! It was just getting to the end!"

"I thought you were about to say, 'It was just getting to the good part,'" Lloyd commented. "That's what it sounded like."

"Yeah, that's what I thought," Jay agreed.

"I sense a figure outside. It appears to be reptilian," Zane said. The ninja team walked outside, looking down. Underneath the floating temple was Pythor, looking frightfully worried. He slithered back and forth, muttering to himself. "Oh, I cannot believe that they managed to reawaken him! Now he's even more disastrous than before! Why did I even think of opening that spot in the first place?"

"Uh, Pythor? What are you trying to say? We can hear you!" Jay called. Pythor looked up, glaring. "You again! Well, never mind," he sighed, trembling. "The ugly steeds that are terrorizing Ninjago just—"

"Nightmares," Zane corrected.

"—well, they just reawakened the Great Devourer and Clouse's Anacondrai pet!"

A clatter came from inside the temple of Airjitzu. A moment later, Hyperfang raced out. "You did NOT just say that my mom and dad are back, did you?"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! They're your parents?!" Kai screeched.

"Yeah, of course they are," Hyperfang deadpanned. "Two giant snakes, one who eats everything, the other who specializes in eating ninja. Dad's the Great Devourer, Mom's the Anacondress. At least, they call themselves the parents of all Serpentine, though they're not really my biological family. PYTHOR! WHERE ARE THEY?!"

"As of now, tearing through Ignacia!"

"That's Kai's amd my hometown!" Nya gasped.

"What are we waiting for? Let's go!" Kai shouted, forming his Elemental Dragon. All six flew off, with Hyperfang calling the rest of the NSG along. "And the rest of you are to stay put! You hear me?" she yelled as she explained the situation. "No one is to leave this place unless it's an emergency!"

"Got it. Thanks for givin' me more time to think," Lorris mumbled.

She continued listening to the silence and saying, _"Mamela,"_ over and over.

When the ninja reached Ignacia with Pythor in the lead, they found that the Devourer and Anacondress hadn't destroyed anything big yet, except for a few rice fields and wrecked houses. Currently they were ransacking the streets.

First stop: the Four Weapons blacksmith shop, where Kai's and Nya's parents currently resided. Maya was currently throwing water at the Devourer, but it kept drinking it and growing bigger. Ray was trying to burn the Anacondress down, but he seemed to forget that Anacondrai have fireproof scales. They're practically invincible.

Nya swooped down as close as she could. "Mom! Don't do that, you'll just cause him to grow bigger!"

Kai came close to Ray. "Dad! She has fireproof scales, it's no use!" he called.

"Nya? Kai?" Maya and Ray breathed, each stopping. They were startled by a high-pitched scream.

Hyperfang jumped from Rudolph's antlers and flared her hood, gliding to the ground. "OY! OVER HERE, GIANTS!"

The Anacondress slithered up behind her, hissing loudly. The Great Devourer reared up, hissing even louder.

"WHAT IS THE WORLD ARE YA DOING?!" Hyperfang screamed.

 _"_ _HISSSSSSSTSTSTSSSTTTTTTTTTT!"_ went the Devourer.

"WE TALKED ABOUT THIS BEFORE! THE SERPENTINE DON'T NEED TO TAKE OVER!"

 _"_ _HSSSSTTTTTTT!"_

"STOP USING BAD LANGUAGE!" That last sentence was at her Super-sonic Scream level. It blew into the Devourer's face as well as the Anacondress's, pushing them back.

Hyperfang cracked her scaly knuckles. "This is why I don't consider these two as the parents of the Serpentine. They are too evil. Now, why did you two even come attack this place?"

"Uh, Hyperfang, what are you doing?" Kai asked. Hyperfang shushed him. "Stop it! I'm trying to talk to them!"

" _Hiss,"_ the Anacondress told her.

"You're a Black Pearl, not actually real. Just leave."

"HISSSS!" The Great Devourer roared, rearing up and getting ready to split Hyperfang in half. The Anacondress slithered back a little, waiting for the action. Many might think nothing happened.

Of course, you're wrong.

The Devourer tried to fit Hyperfang into his mouth, but he had forgotten about her stretchy hood, which was now choking him. He spat Hyperfang back out and she crash-landed onto the ground. The Devourer finally spoke once more. Translation: _"Fine. Have it your way. Come on, Condress, we'll find another place."_ They slithered in the direction of the center of Ninjago, near the Sea of Sand. The ninja minus Kai and Nya chased them away to ensure they'd stay.

"This is like watching my parents' inventions go haywire!" Jay shouted as he swooped every-which-way.

"Seriously? This is worse than in the maze in the tomb of the First Spinjitzu Master!" Cole snapped back.

"Thanks for showing up and getting them away," Ray sighed, back at the shop. "They could have destroyed Ignacia."

"Well, everyone's happy to help, especially now with all this evil running around and the balance being shifted, sadly," Hyperfang said.

Back at the Temple of Airjitzu, Lorris snapped out of her reverie. "You know, I just realized something. Camille, you and Ash kissed when you defeated the Chan-Anacondrai. Why are you suddenly after Lloyd?"

Everyone stopped and turned. Camille raised an eyebrow. "Who's Ash?"

The Twin Terrors' jaws dropped. No. How could she not remember? "How do you not know? He's been sittin' right next to you this whole time!" Nilla squealed. Camille tuned to her right. "There's nothing there except an empty stool."

Ash was stunned. "She can't see me?! What's going on?"

"I have a strange feeling that she's been enchanted, and I have no idea how to break this spell," Lorris deadpanned.

"This isn't good, right?" Nilla asked.

"Nope. And it's gonna get worse if Madonna's 'I'm a Virgin' suddenly comes on."

Suddenly, "I'm a Virgin" by Madonna came on. Lorris banged her fist on the tale. "WHY do the songs always turn on whenever I think about them?! Lemme guess, after this is One Republic."

And after that WAS One Republic, with "Counting Stars." While the song blared out of nowhere, Lorris looked up again. "Just wondering—WHY does something weird always happen whenever I'm around? I mean, Akira's actually got a boy name, Camille can't see Ash, a song I know always turns on whenever I think about it, and so on and so forth. This is my prediction: Akira's gonna get out of bed late, having had a dream that she's actually betrothed to Ninjago's real-life Vandal Savage, also known as a guy named Kidd. And then it'll turn out that, hey, Kidd's real! And her parents thought he was the Green Ninja, so BOOM! They're engaged at two years old."

And as soon as "Counting Stars" turned off, Akira came racing out from around the corner. "Guys, I just had the WORST dream ever!" she wailed. Lorris facepawed. "See? Bad dream. What happened?"

"Well, there was this guy named Kidd, and so my parents were there, and they told me I was supposed to get married to him right then and there!" Akira spat. Lorris's paws flew into the air. "How did that half of my weird prediction come true?!"

And then, a purple smoke bomb appeared out of nowhere. When the dust cleared, a very ugly man with this beautiful silk cape stepped into view. "Hello, commoners! I am King Kidd, son of the Time Master Krux and ruler of the realm of the newly rebuilt Djinjago! Bow to your liege!" he boomed.

And then, an awkward interruption came in. "Uh, excuse me, but did you just call us common?" Nilla asked as politely as possible. "King Kidd" swept his magnificent silk cape so that he wouldn't have to see her. "I don't talk to peasants and much less little girls, child, so go on and play dolls with your baby sister."

"Why, excuse me, I am not a baby girl! And I am older than Nilla!" Lorris screeched. Kidd turned his nose up. "Please, I am trying to observe this place, lowly servants, so I command you to go to the royal bathrooms and clean out the chamber pots for next use. I also added in a little rotten fish to make it better."

And then both the Twin Terrors blew up right then and there. I mean it. Literally. They blew up. When the fire and smoke cleared away, you could see two very angry volcanic ocelots towering over the king. "WE ARE NOT COMMON LITTLE GIRLS OR SERVANTS! AND MUCH LESS TO A MAN WHO HAS THE RUDEST MANNERS AND THE VAINEST TEMPERAMENT IN THE UNIVERSE!" Nilla roared.

" **AND ALL THE OTHERS ARE LIKE US! WE ARE** **ELEMENTAL MASTERS, DO YOU HEAR ME?!** ** _YOU SHALL FACE MY WRATH IF YOU DO NOT PAY US NORMAL RESPECT!"_** Lorris thundered. Then the Twins reverted back to their ordinary selves, standing in front of the shaking king. "So, what is it you really want?" Lorris asked nonchalantly.

"Oh, yes! Ahem," Kidd cleared his throat. Then he boomed, "I have come to collect my betrothed! You, girl with the red streak in her hair, are to be my queen!" He pointed to Akira.

The place grew uproarious instantly. "She's my sister!" "We can't do that!" "What is wrong with you, you (BLEEP)?!" "Someone call the police on this guy!"

"I am NOT marrying you!" Akira declared, her katana drawn. Kidd scoffed. "You must, darling. It is a decree of law. After all, I do happen to be the Green Ninja. The wedding will be held tomorrow." He raised his cape in a flourish, spinning around and placing a fat, slimy, saliva-soaked kiss on her hand. She swiftly yanked it away.

Lorris, who had been trying to contain her laughter, failed and burst out roaring. "BAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! What is wrong with you, you dimwitted lunkhead? They only thought you were the Green Ninja, but they guessed all too wrong! Also, a fun fact is that the Windigo is destined to marry the Green Ninja, moving on. Anyways, GET OUTTA MAH TERRITORY!"

A half second later, Lorris yanked Kidd by his cape, swung him around in the air, and threw him out the window, where he disappeared into a portal. She dusted her paws off. "Strange things happen to those whose lives I interfere with."

At that moment, Lloyd flew in. "Whoa. What happened to this place?"

"Hi, person who's wearing the color of the one-dollar-bill," Lorris sniffed. "Apparently Akira was supposed to get married to a very ugly man named Kidd some time ago. He just came and was really rude to all of us, Nilla and I blew up and turned everything to cinders, Akira refused to go but she's still supposed to get married tomorrow, and Kidd was kicked out the window back to his old realm by me. Don't worry, she's not going anywhere. After all, the wind likes to blow against the summertime leaves, doesn't it?" She looked at Nilla while saying the last statement, and her sister got the message immediately. **(Wind. Summertime leaves. Leaves in the summer are usually GREEN. Ring a bell, anyone?)**

"Uhh… okay…" Lloyd drew out. His insides were in turmoil right now. HUGE turmoil. He was relieved that Akira didn't go all "I'm-gonna-leave" and instead refused, but he couldn't help the dread that accompanied the fact of the wedding being inevitable. And TOMORROW, of all times. Why then?

Then the NSG and the other ninja flew in. "Young'un, ya shouldn't skedaddle in the middle of a trip like that!" Prancer nickered, thumping Lloyd on the back. "Couldn't wait ta see yer lady, eh?"

"Wait, what? I didn't—" Lloyd stammered. Donner came on his other side. "Don't ignore it, kid. I thought you raced off because you were so eager to get married."

"WHAT?!" Most every Elemental Master screamed. Prancer flew over to Akira. "Tell me, darls, ain't it true that yer madly twittered? Well, now's the PERFECT time to hook," she whickered.

"Oh no, not another of these crazy moments where you suddenly decide to pair two random people together," Akira muttered. "Yeesh—we're not even—"

"What's the issue, dear? Why are you holdin' back from such a man?" Prancer drawled, snapping her hooves. The stereo blinked on.

And she sang: "Is it the clumpy way he walks?"

Lloyd: "What?"

Donner: "Or the grumpy way he talks!"

Lloyd: (swept upside down by Lorris, who examines his feet)

Lorris: "Or the pear-shaped, square-shaped weirdness of his feet?"

Lloyd: "PUT ME DOWN!"

Dasher: "And though we know he washes well, he always ends up sorta smelly (gags as he sniffs Lloyd's armpit and pretends to faint)

Prancer: "But you'll never meet a fella who's as (Donner jumps in) sensitive and sweet!"

Akira: "Oh, no. Don't sing _Frozen._ "

Prancer, Blitzen, Dasher, Dancer, Comet: So he's a bit of a fixer-upper,

So he's got a few flaws!"

Lorris: "Like his peculiar brain dear!"

"Cupid: "That thing with the reindeer (add Dasher and Rudy) it's a little outside of nature's laws!"

Lloyd: "I am not obsessed with reindeer!"

NSG and TT: "So he's a little bit if a fixer-upper, but this we're certain of: You can fix this fixer-upper up with a little bit of love!"

Akira: "Are you guys serious? You're posing a HUGE problem right now!"

Prancer "I'll say! So tell me dear—is it the way that he runs scared?"

Lloyd: (thrown to Dancer)

Dancer: "Or that he's socially impaired?" (Lloyd is set upright)

Hyperfang: (triple flips onto Lloyd's head) "Or that he only likes to tinkle in the woods? (They all stare at her) What? It just fit!"

Donner: "Are you holding back your fondness due to his unmanly blondness?" (Akira smothers a laugh)

NSG: "Or the way he covers up that he's the honest goods!"

NSG and TT: "He's just a bit of a fixer-upper, he's got a couple of bugs!"

Lloyd: "No I don't!"

NSG/TT: "His isolation is confirmation of his desperation for healing hugs! So he's a little bit of a fixer-upper, but we know what to do! The way to fix up this fixer-upper is to fix him up with you!" (the TT and does rope Akira to them, the bucks and Hyperfang rope Lloyd)

Lloyd: "WAAA! STOP IT! Earlier she told me she was already engaged!" (awkward, weird silence)

Bucks and Hyperfang on Donner's antlers: *blink, blink* (huddle up)

Donner: "So she's a bit of a fixer-upper?"

Dancer: "That's a minor thing."

Cupid: "Her quote 'engagement' is a flex arrangement."

Hyperfang: "And by the way, I don't see no ring!" (They all turn back to Lloyd)

Bucks: "So she's a bit of a fixer-upper, her brain's a bit betwixt! Get the fiancé out of the way and the whole thing will be fixed!"

Lloyd: (facepalm)

Meanwhile, does and TT: (long notes)

Prancer: "We're not sayin' you can change him, 'cause people don't really change. We're only sayin' that love's a force that's powerful and strenge. People make bad choices when they're mad or scared or stressed. Well, throw a little love their way! (echo: throw a little love their way) You'll bring out their best! True love brings out the best!"

(All NSG and TT gather again) NSG/TT: "Everyone's a bit of a fixer-upper, that's what it's all about!"

Rudolph: "Father, sister, brother!"

NSG/TT: "We need each other to raise us up and round us out. Everyone's a bit of a fixer-upper, but when push becomes a SHOVE…"

Cupid: "The only fixer-upper-fixer-that-can-fix-a-fixer-upper is—"

NSG/TT :True—tru-tru-tru-true—LOVE! True love! Love love love love love LOVE! TRUE LOVE! Trueeeee…"

Cupid: "Yeah, I'm not conduct a wedding today, so…"

Akira: "Wait, what?"

Cupid: "This was a 'staged' wedding act."

NSG/TT: "LOVE!"

Of course, they had to be interrupted again. With a loud ka-boom coming from the direction of the mountains. Lorris's fur suddenly blanched to white with black spots. "Oh, no. The bad feeling I had is coming back, and it's worse than ever. And even though this morning has been sorta funny-ish-weird, the afternoon's gonna be filled with blood and tears."


End file.
